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04 May 2018 Photo Facebook
Kovsies aim top 6 in Varsity hockey Cheslyn Neethling
Cheslyn Neethling will lead the Kovsie men’s hockey team in the Varsity Hockey tournament.

The Kovsie men’s hockey team hope to draw inspiration from their victory over the North-West University recently when they face their old rivals in the opening round of the Varsity Hockey tournament.

The tournament for men, which is contested biannually, starts on Friday 4 May 2018.

The Kovsies played the Pukke in two matches in Potchefstroom at the end of March with both sides on the winning side once each.

According to the coach Braam van Wyk it will give them a lot of confidence when they come up against the Pukke on Friday afternoon (4 May) in Johannesburg.

“We hope to finish in the top six, anything better than that will be a bonus,” said Van Wyk, in his third year as coach of the team.

They reached the semi-final in 2014 and ended seventh in 2016.

It is a short tournament of just two-and-a-half weeks with the final on 21 May 2018. 

On Saturday 5 May they tackle the University of Johannesburg who won the inaugural men’s tournament in 2014 and defended it in 2016.

The Madibaz lay in wait on Sunday 6 May and on Monday 7 Mayat the University of Cape Town. 

Van Wyk, who played for the Kovsies between 2006 and 2009, said he is in favour of the power play. Each side has one in a match. For three minutes the team will be without two players, with goals worth two points. In addition, all field goals are worth two points. If a match is drawn it will go straight to a shootout.

The Kovsies are led by Cheslyn Neethling. Two players, Egon van der Merwe and Jan Willem Ras, will feature in their third Varsity tournament.

News Archive

Monkey research attracts international attention
2016-07-11

Description: Monkey research attracts international attention  Tags: Monkey research attracts international attention

Prof Trudy Turner from the University of
Wisconsin-Milwaukee and Prof Paul Grobler
from the Department of Genetics at the
University of the Free State, together with one
of the students researching monkey genes.
Photo: Siobhan Canavan

For this year’s Summer School programme, Prof Paul Grobler, from the University of the Free State Department of Genetics focuses on research about the conflict between monkeys and humans in areas where monkeys are regarded as problem animals.

Global expert part of research

This year, Prof Grobler is hosting a group of students and lecturers from the United States of America (USA). The group includes Prof Trudy Turner from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM), a global expert on vervet monkeys. She has been working with the Department of Genetics at the UFS for the past fifteen years, and has also been appointed as an Affiliated Professor in the department.

“The Summer School programme is an opportunity for the American Primatology students to gain practical experience in Africa,” says Prof Grobler.

International interest in Summer School

This year’s Summer School programme involves four lecturers and nine students. The lecturers are from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM), the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Boston University, and Central Washington University.

“We use the genetic information to determine
how monkeys historically infiltrated the
different areas in South Africa.”

This year’s focus is on the genetic structure of the monkeys in South Africa, and research that is being done on the differences and similarities in monkeys from different areas. “We use the genetic information to determine how monkeys historically infiltrated the different areas in South Africa,” says Prof Grobler.

Local nature reserve acting as host

The group will perform field work, including observing monkeys in the Soetdoring Nature Reserve, as well as laboratory work in the department, where they will be assisted by two laboratory technicians.

Two years ago, Prof Grobler and his department tested this idea on a smaller scale, and now they hope to make this a regular event. 

 

 

 

 

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