Latest News Archive

Please select Category, Year, and then Month to display items
Previous Archive
27 July 2018
Tennis the bright spark at USSA
The Kovsie Tennis team was crowned as USSA victors for the eighth consecutive time at the recent University Sports South Africa tournament

Even though some Kovsie sport codes came close, it was eventually only the tennis team who were able to grab hold of a gold medal at the various USSA (University Sport South Africa) tournaments taking place in numerous cities across the country during the student winter holidays.

It was the eighth consecutive USSA crown for the Kovsie tennis team. They won all their matches with ease and even the final against Tuks was a one-way affair, winning eight games to one.

The other sport that came close to winning their tournament, was the netball girls. They came unstacked in the final, losing 30-48 to Tuks. It was the first time since 1998 that Kovsies hosted the USSA netball tournament.

The Kovsie female hockey team claimed third spot and the men, playing in the B section, ended second. They only lost once (against the University of KwaZulu-Natal by a single goal), which denied them promotion to the A section.

The Shimlas nearly obtained bronze, but a penalty try for Wits in the closing minutes cost them in the play-off match for 3rd/4th position.

Both the men and women’s football teams ended sixth, but more importantly, the women qualified for the 2019 Varsity football competition. The women improved by two positions and the men by four places from the 2017 tournament.

The table tennis team didn’t have an official final position. They lost in the quarterfinals.

The basketball men ended ninth and the women tenth, improving by ten and six places respectively.

The volleyball men’s team finished in 11th position and the women took 15th spot.

News Archive

Louzanne breaks own world record in Switzerland
2017-06-09

Description: Louzanne breaks own world record  Tags: Louzanne breaks own world record

Rufus Botha (left), coach of the athlete Louzanne Coetzee,
went overseas with Coetzee and her guide,
Khothatso Mokone, for a race for the first time.
Coetzee improved her T11 5 000 m world record with more
than 20 seconds in Switzerland.
Photo: Johan Roux

She fought against illness, had to get the green light from medical personnel shortly before her main race, and was very nervous. However, on 5 June 2017, the blind athlete Louzanne Coetzee managed to improve the T11 5 000 m world record with more than 20 seconds.

The Kovsie star’s time of 18:14.27 at the ParAthletics Grand Prix in Nottwil, Switzerland, was approximately 23 seconds faster than her previous world record (18:37.23). In addition, Coetzee, who works at the Institute for Reconciliation and Social Justice at the University of the Free State, also improved the South African T11 800 m record to 2:30.18 on 2 June 2017, and her 4:59.54 on 3 June 2017 in the T11 1 500 m was almost another national record.

Carried by UFS and other support
“One could never be ungrateful when running close to your personal best,” Coetzee said. “Fortunately, with God’s blessing, the support of everybody at home, support from the university, as well as my mom and them, it really was a very blessed and successful event.”

According to her coach, Rufus Botha, Coetzee was not feeling well before the event and had to get medical clearance before the 5 000 m. He told her not to run too hard, even though their goal was 18:20. “She ran an incredible final 600 m, which brought the time down to 18:14,” he said. “It was amazing to watch.”

Botha’s knowledge valuable abroad
He enjoyed going overseas with Coetzee and her guide, Khothatso Mokone, for the first time. “His (Botha’s) experience, knowledge, support, and coaching was extremely valuable,” Coetzee said. “It will definitely help me in future: how to approach things, and everything he shared with us.”

We use cookies to make interactions with our websites and services easy and meaningful. To better understand how they are used, read more about the UFS cookie policy. By continuing to use this site you are giving us your consent to do this.

Accept