Max Krafft and Luca Kesselmann gained valuable experience at the recent under-19 Beach Volleyball World Championships in Shangluo, China.
The pair of 18-year-olds shared group G with rivals from the United States, Costa Rica and Poland in one of the toughest of the eight groups.
They lost all three matches 2-0, but came close to winning a set against Poland (20-22), who topped the group and moved to the quarter-finals.
“We were leading in all the matches in the beginning, which shows we can keep up with the rest of the world, but the other countries have more match practice and play high-level tournaments every week, which we in Namibia do not have yet,” coach Conrad Johannes says.
Known as the health capital of China, the city of Shangluo hosted a spectacular event, showcasing the constituency of Shanxxi.
“We had more spectators at our training session than we have ever had at any tournament,” Kesselmann says.
“The centre court is always packed and people are queuing to watch. Big screens in the city and next to stadium show all the matches, and most of the local people have never seen western-world people, meaning taking pictures in the public places of all the foreigners was a daily routine.”
Johannes says the boys will take the lessons from their China adventure back to the drawing board as they prepare for the under-21 World Championships qualification in 2025.
The trip to China was made possible by SeaWork, DTS, Transworld Cargo, Transworld Tours, Rennies Travel, OTB, MSO, the Muadinohamba family, the Namibia Volleyball Federation, and the Namibia Sports Commission.
Namibia’s results were as follows:
USA v Nam 21-16, 21-9, Costa Rica v Nam 21-16, 21-18, and Poland v Nam 21-11, 22-20.
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