Namibia finishes sixth at AUSC Namibia ended sixth overall with 40 medals at the 2016 African Union Sports Council (AUSC) Region Five Under-20 (U20) Youth Games held in Luanda, Angola from 9 to 18 December.The team of 125 athletes competed in women's football, track and field, boxing, basketball, netball, swimming, and tennis against nine other southern African countries.
The teams included athletes with disabilities.
Namibia collected five gold medals, 19 silver and 16 bronze.
South Africa are the overall winners with 125 medals of which 63 are gold, followed by Botswana with 35 medals (14 gold); Zimbabwe third with 76 medals (12 gold); and Angola fourth with 33 medals (12 gold).
Lesotho finished off the top five positions with 16 medals (six gold).
Mozambique ended seventh with 22 medals (four gold); Zambia eighth with 15 medals (four gold); Malawi ninth with nine medals (no gold) and Swaziland 10th with one bronze medal.
Namibia's athletes with disabilities won 23 medals (two gold, 13 silver, eight bronze) in track and field. Lahja Ishitile won two gold medals in the T11 100 metre (m), and 200m.
Swimming
Namibian swimmers collected two gold medals, two silver and seven bronze. Ronan Wantenaar won a gold medal in the 200m backstroke and Toni Roth gold in the women's race over the same distance and style.
Boxing
Namibia's six young boxers did exceptionally well at the games, finishing second overall behind South Africa. Namibia collected one gold and two silver medals. Kadhila Andreas Shikongo won the gold medal.
Basketball
Namibia and Angola were the only two basketball teams at the games. Namibia lost two matches against Angola and received silver medals.
Track and field
Sandro Diergaardt and Anjone Swanepoel won bronze medals each in discus throw and long jump, respectively.
Football
The national U20 women's football team finished second behind South Africa who won the final 5-0.
Netball
The Namibians ended fourth in a group of five teams. South Africa won gold, Botswana silver and Zimbabwe bronze. Lesotho ended fifth.
Tennis
The tennis team missed out on medals in both singles and doubles matches.
The next edition of the Youth Games will be held in Botswana in 2018.
NAMPA