Erongo atheletes bring home Sports Awards titles

The winners for the MTC Namibia Sport Awards were announced in Windhoek last Friday evening at the Windhoek Country Club, with athletes from the Erongo region walking away with at least 4 titles. The annual awards ceremony is hosted in glamour to honour the country’s best performing sport personalities.

Rudolph De Wet Moolman from Swakopmund was awarded the Sportsman of the Year of 2016, walking away with a prize of N$15 000. De Wet Moolman had an oustanding year representing Namibia in the Japan Shotokan Karate Association (JSKA) style over the past year. He was one of the two outstanding performers at the JSKA World Championship. He became the first Karate athlete to win four gold medals at JSKA World Championship, while he also won two silver medals. He also won gold medals at three consecutive JSKA World Championships in 2012, 2014 and 2016. Moolman, in May 2016, was the assistant coach to the Namibia national team which competed in Zimbabwe at the Region 5 Karate Championships.
The Junior Sportsman of the Year for 2016 went to Delano Muller from Walvis Bay, taking home a well deserved prize of N$10 000. Delano Muller excelled in various sport codes over the past year, but his biggest achievement came in kickboxing. Muller at 12 years old, is the youngest black belt kickboxer in Namibia. Muller was awarded with several gold medals in national gymnastics competitions in Namibia. The Dolphin Elementary School learner also competed in swimming and athletics, and broke the 400m and 800m records at the Inter-House Athletics meet in 2016.The Junior Sportswoman of The Year for 2016 was awarded to Mayvonne Black from Swakopmund, also going home with a N$10 000 prize. Mayvonne Swart became a triple world champion at the JSKA Karate World Championships which Namibia hosted at Swakopmund in July 2016. Swart also performed excellently at various karate competitions throughout Namibia over the past year.
Competing at the Shotokan Karate Swakopmund Open tournament in April 2016, she took home three gold medals in the 14-year individual category, while also being awarded a gold medal in the team event. Swart again walked away with three gold medals in the 14-year Individual category at the Shotokan Karate Namibia National Championship in Windhoek.
In September 2016, at the Namibia Amateur Karate Union National Championship in Windhoek she won a gold medal in the 14-year individual Kata event. Namibia’s 2012 Paralympian gold medallist from Walvis Bay, Johanna Benson, took home the title as Disabled Sportswoman of the Year 2016 and a prize of N$15 000. Although Benson failed to win a medal at this years Paralympics, she reached three finals bettering her personal best times. Benson represented Namibia at the IPC Athletic World Championships in October 2015, where she won a bronze medal in the Women’s T37 200m in a season’s best time of 29,98 seconds. At the South African SAPD Nedbank Championships in March 2016, Benson won three gold medals in the T37 100m, 200m and 400m.
The Team of the year for 2016 went to the Namibia Paralympic 4×100 relay team featuring Andre Oberholster from Walvis Bay. Namibia’s Paralympic relay team made history on 19 June when they qualified for the Paralympic Games for the first time.
The Namibian team of Johannes Nambala, Ananias Shikongo, Aloysius Martin, Tobias Moses and their guides Even Tjiviju and Andre Oberholster qualified at an international event in Madrid, Spain when they won the relay event in a personal best time of 44,49 seconds which was well within the Olympic qualifying time of 45,00 seconds.
The following month the Namibian team participated at an IPC Athletics Grand Prix in Berlin, Germany where they once again took the gold medal in a time of 45,14 seconds. At the Paralympic Games in Rio, the Namibian team came second in their First Round heat in a new African record time of 43,49 seconds – which was one second faster than their previous best time. They qualified for the final but narrowly missed out on a medal when they finished fourth in 43,66 seconds.