Sports star award caps dream year for Looser

Mountain biker and cyclist Vera Looser was a thoroughly deserved recipient of the Namibia Sports Commission’s highest honour in Saturday night conclusion of the sports year 2023, held at The Dome in Swakopmund.

The 29-year-old won Sports Star of the Year, the prize set aside for the overall top achiever, besides being named sportswoman of the year ahead of African karate champion Suzelle Pronk.

Looser was absent from the awards, as she just finished competing in the Wines to Whales stage race in the Western Cape, where she had a fall at the end of stage 2 last week and broke her hand. On her behalf, the Namibia Cycling Federation’s Tauvo Shilongo (vice-president) and Michael Lowe received her prizes.

As a road cyclist, Looser finished just outside the medals (fourth) in the Commonwealth Games road race in Birmingham in August 2022, before winning the 947 road race in Johannesburg that November.

At the continental level, she then played her part in the Namibian team of four riders’ points haul at the African championship in Accra, which is now confirmed to have secured the country a women’s road cycling spot at the 2024 Olympics in Paris.

Probably her biggest individual achievements were on the mountain bike – reaching her first UCI World Cup marathon race podium in Italy, before winning a UCI World Cup race in France.

Her seventh position at the UCI marathon world championship in Glasgow further underlined her credentials at this discipline.

Looser’s triumphs in two prestigious stage race team events, the 2023 Absa Cape Epic and 2023 Absa Swiss Epic, both with Kim Le Court of Mauritius, were breakthrough achievements under difficult circumstances which raised her own profile, as well as Namibian sport in general.

Plenty to celebrate

Inline hockey also had cause for big celebrations as the Team of the Year award predictably went to the junior women’s team that dominated the world championship in Argentina on their way to the gold medal. With many team members hailing from Swakopmund, the team greatly contributed to the energy of the awards night.

Their captain Christine Röttcher won junior sportswoman of the year, while their popular coach Brian Sobel was narrowly beaten in his category by his Paralympic athletics counterpart, Letu Hamhola.

Paralympic athletics was another code at the forefront, following the successful year for many of the familiar sprinters such as world silver medallists Ananias Shikongo and Johannes Nambala.

Full list of winners:

Sportsman: Veja Hinda (mixed martial arts).

Sportswoman Vera Looser (cycling / mountain biking).

Sportsman with a disability: Ananias Shikongo (athletics).

Sportswoman with a disability: Lahja Ishitile (athletics).

People’s choice: Fillemon Nghutenanye (boxing).

Junior sportsman: Kevin Lowe (mountain biking).

Junior sportswoman: Christine Röttcher (inline hockey).

Junior sportsman with a disability: Alvin Iita (athletics).

Junior sportswoman with a disability: Lahja Iipinge (athletics).

Sports team of the year: Junior women inline hockey.

Coach: Letu Hamhola (Paralympic athletics).

Referee: Lars Dobberstein (inline hockey).

Development program: Ashburton Kwata Mini cricket.

Professional shining star in the diaspora: Peter Shalulile (football).

Sports journalist (digital): Brian Munango (Namibia Media Holdings).

Sports journalist (radio or TV): Michael Ditu (NBC).

Sports journalist (printed media): Andrew Poolman (Namibia Media Holdings).

Sports federation of the year: Cricket Namibia.

Community award: Delano Muller (kickboxing).

Lifetime achievement awards: Oscar Mengo (football), Thomas Mabuku (boxing), Julien Garises (football), Anita Tjombe (boxing promoter).

• MTC, Debmarine, Namdia, Standard Bank, Namibia Wildlife Resorts and NamPower were sponsors of the category prizes.