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Shayne’s women stun Aussies at World Cup

• 1 Day Ago 04 February 2025

The Namibian women’s team achieved a stunning and unforgettable 3-2 victory against fifth-ranked Australia on day one of the FIH Indoor Hockey World Cup in Croatia yesterday.

It was a hard-fought contest, with Namibia demonstrating resilience and tactical discipline to outmaneuver their higher-ranked opponents late in the match.

Taramarie Myburgh was a heroic performer, scoring twice with impressive field goals to draw level in the fourth quarter, while Jivanka Kruger found the back of the net with a field goal in the dying minutes to secure the win.

The result marks a significant milestone for Namibia as they begin their campaign with confidence and momentum.

Under coach Shayne Cormack, the Namibians are determined to improve on their dismal FIH Indoor World Cup showing two years ago in South Africa.

The Australian women’s previous record in indoor internationals against Namibia stood at two wins and two draws. However, all credit should go to the fighting spirit shown by the current team under coach Shayne Cormack and captain Gillian Hermanus.

Cormack expressed her pride in the girls. “We decided to really go out and fight as hard as we could, to have each other’s backs. The girls never let their guard down.

“Winning our first match is the first part of our goal. We’ll just stay humble now and keep working towards the next one.

“We really have the Namibian hockey community standing strongly behind our teams here, screaming at their TVs and celebrating in jubilation right now.”

Another player, Sunelle Ludwig, said the team were not thinking about the difference in the world rankings, “because it’s a World Cup and anything can happen and we believed in ourselves. We were lucky to get away with the win. Fortunately our next opponents Germany are also playing now, so we can have a look at them and then go back to the drawing board, to see what we can do against them after our rest day.”



Men’s team battle valiantly against Belgium

The Namibian men’s team, led by captain DJ Strauss, put up a spirited fight against tournament favourites Belgium,

but ultimately succumbed to a 4-7 defeat. The match saw two intense opening quarters, with both teams locked at 4-4 by halftime.

The third quarter remained goalless as Namibia held firm against their higher-ranked opponents, but Belgium found their rhythm in the final period, scoring three late goals to seal the victory.

Despite the loss, Namibia showed much early potency, with Dakota Hansen, John-Paul Britz (who netted twice) and Liam Hermanus getting on the scoresheet. The team will look to build on their performance as they aim to live up to their quarter-final appearance two years ago.



NEXT FIXTURES for Namibia is on Wednesday:

Men: Namibia v Trinidad & Tobago (10:30)

Women: Namibia v New Zealand (13:10).

On Thursday, the last of their pool matches will be against Germany (women’s match at 14:30) and Australia (men’s match at 22:20).



Broadcast details

SuperSport has secured the broadcast rights to the FIH Indoor Hockey World Cup and will be airing all the South African and Namibian games. SuperSport will broadcast the matches live on SuperSport Variety 2 (DStv Channel 207) in South Africa, and on SuperSport Africa 2 and Action Africa across the rest of Africa. The matches will also be streamed on DStv Stream and GOtv.