INCOMPETENT sports administrators are robbing the country of it's future stars, said the Namibia National Olympic Committee (NNOC) Secretary General Abner Xoagub, following the poor showing of Namibian athletes, at recent international competitions.

Xoagub said yesterday that sports in Namibia is bereft of committed leaders who have the athletes interests at heart. Namibia managed a paltry two podium places, in the last three international competitions, in Algeria, Kenya and Singapore.

"Sport administration (in Namibia) needs to get serious," a concerned Xoagub told reporters saying he feels the affiliated sport federations are not pulling their weight in honing the talents of the country's athletes.

"We cannot merely fill the positions. We must stop embarrassing the country. Compared to other countries, we lack discipline, and that is why our athletes keep on performing poorly."

Xoagub believes that, as a result of the administrative bungling, local athletes are left with a distinct disadvantage compared to their international counterparts, which has led to increasingly poor performances, an unfortunate trend that is expected to continue at the upcoming, 19th Commonwealth Games, beginning October 3, in India.

"We will keep sending athletes to these competitions only to return empty handed.

"If that's the case then we must not take part."

He said, although his organisation had issued affiliates with qualification criteria for the 2010 Commonwealth Games, three years ago, the majority of the approved submissions were only scrambled through in the past few weeks. The deadline for submissions of athletes, to represent Namibia at the Games, was yesterday.

"This means that these athletes will have about three weeks to prepare," Xoagub said of the poor planning and lack of initiative in Namibian sport management.

"How can you expect such an athlete to compete against someone who has been preparing for this competition for over six months?

"We don't want to punish the athletes, but we can't keep sending athletes, who are not properly, prepared to represent Namibia."

Namibia's representation at the Commonwealth games has significantly dwindled over the years.

The 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester, England, had a delegation of 57 Namibians, whilst three less took part in the 2006 Melbourne games in Australia. This year, only 17 athletes have made the cut.