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26 April 2018 Photo Supplied
Strong athletics team for USSA
The 800m athlete Rynardt van Rensburg is one of several Kovsies who is expected to win a gold medal at the national student champs this weekend.

With three Olympians in their midst and a number of athletes who are serious contenders for a first place, the Kovsie athletics team looks set to make a statement at the 2018 national student champs.

The University Sport South Africa (USSA) event takes place from Friday 27 April to Sunday 29 April 2018 in Sasolburg.

Kovsies finished fifth at last year’s USSA with four gold, four silver and four bronze medals.

There were initial concerns the team might be weakened by the loss of five of their top athletes who are competing at the CAA Southern Region Youth and Junior Championships that is also taking place this weekend in Boksburg.  

Luckily for Tsebo Matsoso (200m), Pakiso Mthembu (5 000m), Tyler Beling (1 500 m) and Lara Orrock (3 000m steeplechase), their events on the USSA programme are only scheduled for Sunday which will allow them to participate in both meetings. Michaéla Wright (SA U20 long jump champion) won’t be able to compete in Sasolburg either. 

Beling and Orrock, along with Ts’epang Sello (800m and 1 500m), Kesa Molotsane (5 000m and 10 000m), Lynique Beneke (long jump), Carien Sander (400m), Hendrik Maartens (200m), Sefako Mokhosoa (triple jump), Mthembi Chauque (20km walk), Peter Makgato (long jump) and Rynardt van Rensburg (800m and 1 500m) are all realistic gold medal contestants.

Van Rensburg, Sello and Beneke have all been to the Olympic Games in 2016. Van Rensburg’s 1:46.15 last month in the 800m currently ranks 21st among the best times in 2018 on the global stage.

Beneke defended her national crown last month with a winning distance of 6.22m and Sello came very close to running her personal best in the 800m at the Commonwealth Games.

News Archive

Visually impaired UFS student an inspiration
2016-10-05

Description: Zingisa Ngwenya Tags: Zingisa Ngwenya

Zingisa Ngwenya at the 2016
Spring Graduation Ceremony at the Callie Human
Centre on the UFS Bloemfontein Campus.
Photo: Johan Roux

“Zingisa, I saw the tears streaming down your face when you were being hooded,” said an emotional Dr Khotso Mokhele, Chancellor of the University of the Free State. “And you were not the only one with tears streaming down your face.”
 
Zingisa Ngwenya, a visually impaired BA Communication Science student, was one of those who graduated at the UFS 2016 Spring Graduation on 15 September 2016 at the Bloemfontein Campus. By her side were her guardians, Derek Watts, the presenter of the current affairs TV programme Carte Blanche, and his wife Belinda.

Dream becomes reality with support from community
Watts first met Ngwenya at the Audi Pioneer School Rally in Worcester, Western Cape, in which she was his co-driver. He admired her ability to read all her instructions in braille. “I was inspired by her because she had lost her sight late in her school career,” said Watts at the graduation ceremony. Ngwenya was academically strong and her aspirations to go to university led to the relationship.  

The UFS Centre for Universal Access and Disability Support, the Kirsty Watts Foundation, Gavin Fourie from Richmond, and Symington and De Kok law firm in Bloemfontein helped make Ngwenya’s dream a reality. “We managed the facility for her to do well, but it’s nothing compared to what she has done to get this degree,” Watts said.

Support from Watts family made things possible
Ngwenya will be studying towards a law degree at UFS, as well as working part-time at, Symington and De Kok. “She never bemoans what has happened to her in life. She just looks ahead to make the most of her life,” Watts said.

“Derek and Belinda’s support means everything to me. Without them it would not have been possible because it has really been a struggle, but they believed in me,” Ngwenya said.

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