DeKalb Silver Streak Najee Smothers (far left) celebrates with his U.S.A National Wheelchair Handball team that finished with a silver medal at the IHF World Championships in Cairo Egypt in late September. (Courtesy Photo)
Junior DeKalb County DeKalb Silver Streaks standout Najee Smothers traveled to Egypt with the USA Wheelchair Handball team In September and came home with a silver medal from the IHF (International Handball Federation) Wheelchair Handball World Championships.
The silver medal was the first ever for the 10-person coed squad from the U.S. of which Smothers is one of the youngest team members.
The U.S. squad finished second in Group A dropping a 2-0 match (2-9, 0-7) to Brazil in the opening game of the tournament. Smothers and his teammates bounced back with wins over Japan 2-1 (5-9, 9-3, 10-8) and France 2-0 (7-5,7-5).
Smothers scored one point in the match against Japan as his team moved into the quarterfinals (knockout state) as the No. 2 team out of Group A to face Group B third place finisher Chile. A 2-0 win (4-1, 8-3) moved the U.S. squad into the semifinals to face Brazil for the second time in the tournament.
In the semifinal rematch against Brazil Smothers was second on the team with five points as the U.S. rallied from down 0-1 in the match (0-4) to win the next two sets 5-2 and 10-8 to clinch the U.S. its first medal in the IHF World Championships.
The IHF World Wheelchair Handball Championships silver medalist team from the U.S.A. (Courtesy Photo)
The U.S. moved into the finals match against host Egypt who was also sporting a 4-1 record after coming out of Group B at 2-1 and winning its two knockout stage matches against Japan (2-1) and France (2-0).
The home team proved too much for the U.S. squad as the Egyptian team took home the gold with a 2-0 (1-6, 6-12) win. Smothers led the U.S. squad with three points in the final match of the championships.
Smothers was one of three players from Georgia on the 10-person squad including Samuel Armas (Villa Rica, GA) and Elizabeth Pentecost (Atlanta, GA). Other members of the team included Jian Jackson (Hoover, AL), Austin “Mack” Johnson (Charlotte, NC), Luke Robinson (Seattle, WA), Sydney Schmidt (Milwaukee, WI), Harsh Thakkar (Alexandria, VA), Jeff Townsend (Anderson, SC) and Chayse Wolf (Blythewood, SC).