Namibian bowlers qualify for Commonwealth Games 

Namibia’s national bowls team finished second overall at the African States Tournament in Orapa, Botswana on Friday to qualify for the 2026 Commonwealth Games.

The PRO of the Namibia Bowls Association Michelle Crawford said they had reached their target under difficult circumstances. 

“We reached our main target of qualifying for the next Commonwealth Games and are very proud of our players, who did exceptionaly well under difficult conditions,” she said. 

“It was very hot with temperatures above 37 degrees, while we were not used to their slow greens – it took about ten seconds to deliver a ball, while in Namibia, our greens average between 16 and 22 seconds,” she said.

South Africa, who won the overall gold medal, and Namibia, who won overall silver, will now represent Africa at the 2026 Commonwealth Games.

Namibia won a total of nine medals, consisting of five silver and four bronze medals.

Besides finishing second overall, Namibia’s women finished second, while Namibia’s men finished third.

In the women’s singles category Namibia’s Marietjie van den Bergh won the silver medal with six points after just beating Kenya on shot aggregate, while South Africa won the gold medal with nine points.

In the women’s pairs, Van den Bergh and Bianca Lewis won the silver medal with nine points after winning three of their four matches. South Africa took gold with 12 points, while Kenya won the bronze medal with six points. 

In the women’s fours category the Namibian team of Lewis, Diana Viljoen, Elzaan de Vries and Marinda Bezuidenhout won the bronze medal, after just being edged out by South Africa and Kenya on shot aggregate. 

All three teams finished on nine points, but South Africa won gold with a +33 shot difference; Kenya won silver with a +10 aggregate and Namibia won bronze with a +7 aggregate. 

Namibia’s women’s trips team of Viljoen, De Vries and Bezuidenhout failed to win a medal after finishing fourth on four points, behind South Africa (10), Botswana (6) and Kenya (6). 

In the men’s singles category Namibia’s Kat Steenkamp won a silver medal after beating Zimbabwe on shot aggregate. South Africa won gold with 12 points followed by Namibia on six (+4 shot aggregate) and Zimbabwe on six (-5 aggregate). 

In the men’s pairs competition, the Namibian team of Graham Snyman and Julian Viljoen won the bronze medal with six points, while South Africa (nine points) won gold after edging out Botswana on shot aggregate. 

In the men’s trips competition, Steenkamp, Waylon Wentzel and Schalk van Wyk won the bronze medal with six points, finishing behiond South Africa (10) and Botswana (7).

In the men’s fours competition, Namibia’s Viljoen, Snyman, Wentzel and Van Wyk finished fifth on three points, with Kenya taking gold on 12 points, Zimbabwe silver on six (+16 shot aggregate) and Botswana bronze on six (-6 aggregate).