The Namibian Unified Basketball Team will contest for third and fourth place play-off in the men’s mixed unified sports team competition at the ongoing 2023 Special Olympics World Games in Berlin, Germany after losing its semi-final play-off on Saturday.

The men’s 3x3 unified basketball team lost its match against Korea 7-21 at the Neptunbrunnen Berlin Centre.

The Namibian team, which sustained injuries during their divisioning games, found the going tough in the opening minutes of their semi-final match. Team Namibia found it hard to get the ball into the basket, while their opponents used every opportunity to put up points on the scoreboard.

With just two minutes remaining in their 10 minutes game, the Namibian team trailed by seven points as the game stood at 5-12. Korea showed renewed energy with their substitutes, who came in to score nine more points.

The defeat means the Namibian team will miss out on an opportunity to contest for the gold medal but will still have an opportunity to win silverware in the bronze medal play-off against Uruguay, who lost their semi-final match against Cuba 15-9 also on Saturday.

The third place-off will be held from 18h00 on Saturday evening.

Meanwhile, in athletics, Louise Sagaria missed out on a medal on Friday evening after finishing fifth in the long jump Level A competition at the Hanns-Braun Stadium.

The Namibian jumped 3.99 metres to finish fifth, while Adel Takacs of Hungary won the gold, Yelyzaveta Ilienko of Ukraine took silver and Sele Barrios of Venezuela walked away with the bronze medal.

After seven days of competition, Team Namibia has won three medals (one gold and two silver) from athletics, track and field events and road cycling.

Source: The Namibia Press Agency