A team of sixty young South African track and field athletes are participating in the COSSASA Games in Gaberone, Botswana this weekend.
As Rohini Naidoo, Director for School Sport at SRSA explains:
Judging from the dozen-plus records that were broken during the National High Schools Athletics Champs a few weeks ago, they should return with more than a few medals in hand. Watch this space for an update!
It’s a sad truth that for every South African sports hero receiving hours of television coverage and reams of print media exposure there are dozens of unsung sport heroes who’ve climbed to the top of their sport, sometimes with great effort and against many odds.
One sport with quite a few unsung heroes is wheelchair tennis. Having lost three limbs – his right hand and both legs – at a very young age, he is today a tennis player of international standard.
This is from a press release about a recent tournament Lucas played in:
Another very proud moment for Mzansi was Lucas Sithole’s conquest over
Adam Field from Great Britain. Sithole was seeded 2nd in the tournament
and Field’s number 1 position had the SA spectators nervously clutching
their seats in the first set as players battled it out game for game.
Sithole is known for his unrelenting fighting spirit that far surpasses
any of his peers in the South Africa squad; and true to form this
KZN-born champion took the first nail biting set 7-6. With a tightly
contested match Sithole knew that he had to pull away from his opponent
as soon as possible in the second set to gain advantage. As the highest
world ranked South African player, the county’s hopes were fulfilled,
and pride secured when the incredibly focused triple amputee took the
second set 6-3. Playing only with his left hand, the crowds couldn’t
have been more excited by his performance, and Sithole’s win meant a
second tournament title would be kept on home soil with the 7-6 6-3
victory. The scoreboard however did not reflect the unyielding effort of
our player and the collective pride that swelled the chests of all the
South African supporters.
The Laureus Foundation South Africa, which funds and supports twelve grassroots sport projects has announced that well-known soccer and cricket stars Desiree Ellis and Shaun Pollock as joined the ranks of the other South African Laureus Ambassadors.
The Ambassadors, who include high profile names such as Lucas Radebe, Baby Jake Matlala and Deshun Deysel play a major role in the work of the Foundation by lending their skills and names to events and activities of the Foundation’s projects.
The Foundation, sponsored by Daimler Chrysler, Discovery and Richemont is part of an international network that uses sport as a means for social change and upliftment. In South Africa more than 50 000 people have been reached by programs supported by the Foundation, including Free the Youth, Soweto Schools rugby Project, Little Champs, and Sport for All.
Free the Children, a project started by soccer great John Moeti is sending seven children to France later this year to participate in the Fraternity Cup, a sport event linked to human and children’s rights initiatives. They’ll be competing against similar teams from twelve countries.
** Desiree is also a participant in the annual Sport Heroes Walk Against HIV/AIDS, a project funded and supported by SRSA. She is the only participant to have completed all Heroes Walks since its inception nine years ago.
The much-anticipated Boxing Convention is scheduled to take place at St George’s Hotel outside Pretoria on 23-24 April.
The Convention is expected to plan a future for the sport that will ensure its continued growth and well-being. It is expected to be attended by a who’s who of South African boxing, with the Minister of Sport and Recreation, Rev. Makhenkesi Stofile attending as well.
South Africa is going to be a great place to be during the World Cup. That’s because there’ll be dozens of parallel events happening during the World Cup to keep visitors busy and entertained when they’re not watching World Cup games.
One such event – and we’ll be posting info on others as we hear about them – is the World Sport Destination Expo, billed as “the first global business exhibition and conference of sport tourism opportunities”. The five day event is due to take place during the final week of the World Cup starting on July 5 in the Sandton Convention Centre in Johannesburg. It’s organised by SportBusiness, a leading British sport publishing and eventing company and will attract major role players in the growing world of sport tourism.
The first day of the event will be the inaugural International Sport Tourism Conference, followed by an exhibition attended by leading international companies, bidding countries, and sport tourism suppliers.
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