National Youth Games launched

The delayed third National Youth Games (NYG) will take place later this year, the organisers said following the official launch at Oshakati on Friday.

Organised by the Namibia Sports Commission (NSC) in conjunction with the Ministry of Sport, Youth and National Service, the competition will be hosted in the Oshana region from 12 to 14 September and will feature 13 sport codes.

The current edition of the under-20 event was deferred from last year after MTC opted not to renew its sponsorship, following the fallout over the shambolic organisation of the 2020 games at Rietfontein, when the competition last took place.

The first edition was held in 2018 in Windhoek with the intention of bringing the regions and youth together.

Namibia uses the competition to select the team for the African Union Sport Council Region Africa Youth Games, which take place in Windhoek next year.

Tjeripo Musutua, the NYG project director, said just over 2 600 participants are expected to compete for honours across venues at Ondangwa, Ongwediva and Oshakati.

“We are expecting all regions to conclude with their trials and submit names of players by 31 July. Funds have already been made available through the line ministry to ensure that regions conduct fair trials,” Musutua said.

Also speaking during the launch, Oshana regional governor Elia Irimari called on the business community to support the youth games.

“It is our duty to call upon Namibians who understand that it is through sports that we can fortify, unify and enhance the development of our country,” Irimari said.

NSC chief administrator Freddy Mwiya said they hope for a successful event which will live up to its objective.

“We started crafting that there is a need for us to have this type of opportunity that we bring all regions together and capacitate the coaches, technical officials and the youth of this country,” Mwiya said.

“Yes, the second edition was a good event but there were challenges which we must admit to. However, we have learnt from them. One of them was financial challenges because the budget which was allocated was very limited and we lost our sponsors but we did not give up,” Mwiya added.

“The participants will be accommodated at five government hostels that will cost us N$30 per athlete for four days which translates into N$370 000.”