If you thought no-one else but South Africans were interested in the indigenous sport of Jukskei, think again. A group of Jukskei players are taking the game to the USA in a week or two, to take part in the World Horseshoe Pitching Championship as a display sport. Exciting times for Jukskei!

In February 2010, the International Jukskei Federation (seated in South Africa), received a formal invitation from Mr Stuart Sipma, President of the USA National Horseshoe Pitching Association (NHPA) to send a delegation of jukskei “people” to their World Horseshoe Pitching Championship, which is due to take place from 26 July to 7 August 2010 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The IJF graciously accepted the invitation. The first purpose of the planned tour is rekindle interest in and enthusiasm for the sport of Jukskei among Horseshoe pitchers. The Yanks are quite keen to, as the case in the 1970s until early 1990s was, to take up the role of a Jukskei-playing country again.
The planned tour will possibly be extended to include Quoits and Bocce, two other USA based sports. Jukskei will be demonstrated to them, which could lead to a series of bilateral discussions on the possible establishment of an overarching international confederation for precision throwing sports.

South Africa’s reputation as a world class destination and host for international sports events is now well and truly established with a steady stream of global events heading for South African shores in the next few years. The latest international world championship confirmed to be held in South Africa is the 2013 World Transplant Games, an event for people who have received organ transplants.

The Games will be held in Durban from 28th July – 4th August 2013.

The hosting body, the South African Transplant Sports Association, has been a member of SASCOC since March 2009, and is an active participant in international transplant events where its members have won numerous medals in various sporting disciplines. It is also the organiser of the bi-annual national event.

While the 2010 FIFA World Cup takes centre stage at the moment, there’s another football world championship heading for South Africa straight after the World Cup.

The World Football Championships for Athletes with an Intellectual Disability is due to be held from 23 August – 11 September in Limpopo. One of the venues earmarked for the event is the Peter Mokaba Stadium, currently being used for the 2010 |FIFA World Cup.

The World Championship, which takes place every four years, was first held in the Netherlands in 1994, the event will attract participants from sixteen countries – South Africa, Germany, Hungary, Saudi Arabia, Poland, Egypt, Japan, Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Turkey, South Korea, Portugal, Nigeria, the Netherlands and France.

The bid for the event was submitted by the South African Sports Association for the Intellectually Impaired (SASA-II) to the organising body, the International Federation for Sport for athletes with an Intellectual Disability, in 2008. South Africa is currently ranked third in the world, and hopes to improve on this standing at the forthcoming event.

SRSA is supporting the event and will be part of the event’s organising committee. More information on the event is available at the INAS-FID website.

SRSA has (naturally so) a whole host of projects on the go during the 2010 FIFA World Cup. While many staff are deployed to help at stadia, a few are at the International Football Village at the Birchwood Hotel in Boksburg (here are a few photos of SRSA’s presence there). The Village is a combination fan park and hospitality village featuring big screens, food and drink, and many arts and crafts stalls where SRSA has an exhibition space and on-going activities in partnership with the German development agency GTZ. The department is also using the Village as a reception area for VIPs and location where media conferences are held (see this report on a press conference held by the Minister).

Here’s Kelly Mkhonto explaining what SRSA’s participation is about:

The finals of the 2010 School Adventure project, of which SRSA was a major funded was held in Johannesburg recently. The project saw schools across the country pair up with participating 2010 FIFA Football World Cup nations to hold a schools soccer competition to promote goodwill and understanding among young people about the countries playing in the World Cup.

You can view photos from the event in the Photo Gallery.

Sumaya Khan, recently appointed Chief Operating Officer of SRSA attended the event and had the following to say: