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15 June 2018 Photo Supplied
Kovsies dominate SA students athletics team
Marné Mentz is one of six Kovsie female athletes in the South African student team to the CUCSA Games.

Students of the University of the Free State (UFS) are well represented on the South African student teams for this year’s CUCSA Games.

The competition that takes places biennially is staged from 18 to 22 June 2018 in Gaborone, Botswana.

The Confederation of University and Colleges Sports Associations (CUCSA) comprises of the Africa Zone VI countries with its members being Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe, who will all be a part of the action. 

The South African men’s and women’s teams will compete in athletics, basketball, soccer, table tennis and volleyball.

After UFS female athletes won the women’s competition at the University Sport South Africa (USSA) championships in April, it came as no surprise that they had produced the most athletes, with six out of the 17, in the national women’s athletics team. 

The athletes chosen are: Ané Erasmus (hurdles), Lynique Beneke (long jump), Marné Mentz, Tsepang Sello, Lara Orrock and Tyler Beling (all middle distances). Emmarie Fouché from KovsieSport will be one of the four athletics coaches at the games. Tsebo Matsoso (sprints), Ruan Jonck and Pakiso Mthembu (both middle distances) will form part of the men’s team.

Kovsies’ Gauta Mokati will captain the men’s football team. Jeranimo Power had initially been selected to play, but had to withdraw due to injury. Thabo Lesibe is another UFS player selected for the men’s team and Godfrey Tenoff of KovsieSport will serve as the assistant coach. Noxolo Magudu will represent Kovsies in the women’s football team.

Although there aren’t any UFS players in the CUCSA basketball teams, the men’s team will be managed by Clement Kock, an assistant coach for the Kovsies basketball team.

News Archive

Plant researcher receives prestigious Grain SA award
2016-10-21

Description: Plant researcher receives prestigious Grain SA award Tags: Plant researcher receives prestigious Grain SA award

Prof Zakkie Pretorius from the UFS Department
of Plant Sciences with Andries Theron,
vice-chairman of Grain SA. Theron presented
the award to Prof Pretorius at Grain SA’s a
nnual gala event, which was held in Midrand
this year.
Photo (read more): Supplied
Photo (spotlight): Charl Devenish

A researcher in the Department of Plant Sciences at the University of the Free State (UFS), Prof Zakkie Pretorius, received the prestigious Grain Producer of the Year Inspiration Award during the annual gala event of Grain SA. Grain SA provides strategic commodity support and services to South African grain producers to assist in the sustainability of the sector.

This award is presented to individuals or organisations in appreciation of excellent contributions to the grain industry. These individuals have also achieved extraordinary results in their respective fields.

Research in the interest of food security
Prof Pretorius has been involved in research on plant diseases and food crops for the past 38 years. His research focus, rust diseases in crops, is especially important for food security.  

According to Prof Pretorius, who collaborates with an extensive network of specialist colleagues, his research covers a variety of topics including rust race identification, the discovery of new resistance genes, characterisation of resistance expression in plants, and the mapping of genes. His focus is not only on wheat, but he also researches rust diseases in oats, barley, maize, dry beans, lentils, sunflowers, and soybeans.

Breeding of rust-resistant varieties gains scientific basis
Locally, he has been contracted for several years by the Winter Grain Trust to annually evaluate commercial wheat cultivars and elite germplasm. This information is regularly passed on to the relevant seed companies and breeders, and is also included in the production guidelines of the Agricultural Research Council for disease risk assessment. His research places the breeding and selection of rust-resistant varieties on a solid scientific foundation. A living collection of rust fungus cultures and a large germplasm collection are maintained at the UFS under his supervision.

 

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