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22 February 2018 Photo Thabo Kessah
Pakiso aims to conquer the world
Pakiso Mthembu will be representing South Africa in Mauritius and Algeria.

This year, the University of the Free State’s Qwaqwa Campus will unleash a running sensation that is equally comfortable on track, cross-country, and road running and is on a mission to conquer the world. His name is Pakiso Mthembu from Tweeling in the Eastern Free State. Pakiso has recently qualified for the Junior Men’s Southern Region cross-country championships that will be held in Mauritius on 24 February and in Algeria on 17 March 2018.

“I am glad that I managed to run my personal best time of 24:02 during the qualification trials held in Bloemfontein in January, which set me on the road to Mauritius and Algeria,” said Pakiso, a BEd FET first-year student.

His personal best in the 10 km road-running category and in the 5 000 m track are 30:55 and 14:29, respectively.

Praise for Soke
“It is only through dedication, hard work, and listening to my coach that I can achieve my dreams of representing South Africa at the International Association of Athletics Federations World Junior Championships (IAAF) to be held in Finland in July, and at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. I have one of the best coaches in this part of the world and it gives me great pleasure to work with him, having grown up admiring him during his days,” he says in reference to Boy Soke, who identified his talent and recruited him to the Qwaqwa Campus.

Pakiso has already represented South Africa in Uganda.

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Free State takes all at the National Netball Championships for seniors
2010-06-04

 Anja Opperman
Netball at the University of the Free State (UFS) had a very successful season. The Cheetahs won gold for the first time since 2005 at the National Netball Championship for seniors that took place during the past weekend in the DF Malherbe Centre at the University of Stellenbosch. The Cheetah team consists only of Kovsies (eight Kovsies and four old Kovsies).

This year Free State won the national U.19, U.21 and senior Netball Championships.

According to Ms Burta de Kock from KovsieSport at the UFS, students from the Cheetah group work extremely hard. “The players practice every day between three to four hours. It was clear from the beginning that the players form a unit and will do everything in their power to make us proud. Their loyalty, perseverance and determination were unbelievable, she said.

The championship was a round robin and the Cheetahs easily beat the other eight provinces namely Ingwes (Mpumalanga), Crocodile (Limpopo), Unicorns (Northwest-South), Flamingos (Northern Cape), Mermaids (KZN), Tornados (Western Cape) and Thunderbirds (Gauteng).

In the semi-final the Cheetahs beat the Tornados 44-30 and they qualified for the finals. They played against the Thunderbirds, which included six Protea players, in the final. This only motivated the Cheetah players. With outstanding play and hard work they won the match 43-37 after they were behind in points.

Adéle Niemand was nominated as the best defence player, Maryka Holtzhausen the best goal player and Anja Opperman as best player of the championship.

 

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