Namibia’s women win gold 

Namibia’s women and South Africa’s men retained the Indoor Hockey Nkosi Cup titles on Tuesday night after two tight finals at the Wynberg Military Base Stadium in Cape Town.

Namibia’s women beat South Africa 3-1 with Jivanka Kruger scoring two goals and Kiana Cormack one, but in the men’s final it was the Mustaphaa Cassiem show as he scored all three South Africa’s goals in a 3-2 victory to take his international goal tally to 101.

The women’s final was a cagey affair with South Africa passing the ball around patiently, waiting for opportunities. They, however, could not penetrate Namibia’s tight defence and it was Namibia who struck first through a great solo goal by Kruger. She started a counter-attack down the right wing, and swivelled past Edith Molikoe to score from an acute angle.

SA pushed hard in the second quarter, creating some chances, but Petro Stoffberg protected Namibia’s lead with some fine saves.

With both sides playing a patient passing game, there were few chances of note in the third quarter, although Malikah Hamza came close to scoring for SA from a penalty corner, with her shot being cleared off the line. 

Cormack struck early in the final quarter, scoring from a short corner, to put Namibia 2-0 ahead and force SA into action. 

They came storming back and after wasting two short corner attempts, Hamza finally opened their account when she slammed home a cross from the right wing.

SA pushed hard for the equaliser, putting on an extra attacker in place of their goalie, but Kruger once again caught them on the counter, outstripping their defence to put the ball into an empty net. 

The win saw them retaining the title after they beat SA 4-2 in last year’s inaugural cup and coach Shayne Cormack said she was very proud of her team.

“They played like stars today, they were disciplined, they just went out there and gave their all today, I’m so proud of them.”

“We had to save legs so we just decided to hold them and be very patient in defence, and then try and capitalise off errors and try and score our short corners. We just tried to get those circle entries and when we were given the opportunity to attack higher, we just stuck to the principles, and it worked for us, so I’m just so proud of these girls today,” she said. 

The men’s final was much more lively as both sides went at each other from the outset. 

Namibia won an early short corner which they could not convert, while SA also a short corner with Mustaphaa Cassiem forcing a fine save from Namibian keeper Richter van Rooyen. 

Cassiem and his brother Dayaan created more chances for SA, with Van Rooyen saving another Mustaphaa short corner attempt, but it was Namibia who opened the scoring midway through the second quarter when they won a short corner and Cody van der Merwe slipped a pass to JP Britz who slammed the ball high into the net. 

Cassiem, however, turned on the magic with two goals in two minutes in the third quarter to put SA in front. He first stabbed home a loose ball in the box and then put away a short corner to score his 100th goal for SA.

Fagan Hansen pulled a field goal back for Namibia to tie the score at 2-2, but Cassiem sealed SA’s victory with a great solo goal three minutes from time. 

With the win SA’s men retained the title that they won last year, but this time it was a much closer affair than SA’s 10-2 victory in 2023.