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UFS tennis team clinch ninth USSA title

10 December 2019 | Story Ruan Bruwer | Photo Supplied

The country’s number one student team and South Africa’s second-best club. This is the bragging rights earned by the University of the Free State’s (UFS) tennis team after winning the 2019 University Sport South Africa (USSA) Tennis Championship.

The Kovsie team claimed their ninth consecutive USSA title on Friday 6 December in Stellenbosch, winning all their matches. The team comprised both men and women – a combination which has been in place since 2010. Since 2010, there has been only one name on the USSA trophy, with the Kovsie team winning from 2010 to 2015 and again from 2017 to 2019. The competition was not hosted in 2016.

In the 2019 USSA final against Maties, Kovsies was declared the winner, with the score 7-1 after completing seven singles matches and one doubles. A match consisted of four men’s singles, four women’s singles, two men’s doubles, two women’s doubles, and two mixed doubles.

Arne Nel, Ruben Kruger, Handre Hoffman, Heinrich Willemse, Ester de Kock, and Reze Opperman all won their singles in straight sets. Kruger and Willemse combined for a win in the only doubles match.

On their road to victory, the team had wins over the North-West University (Mafikeng Campus), the University of Cape Town, Stellenbosch University, and the University of Pretoria. The victory over the University of Pretoria in the semi-final was revenge for the Sun City University Championship in March, where they denied Kovsies a fourth consecutive crown in that competition.

Another feather in the cap for Kovsie tennis was that two team members, Willemse and Kruger, along with two management members – Marnus Kleinhans and Janine de Kock, respectively UFS tennis coach and team manager – were chosen for the South African team to the World Student Games in July.

News Archive

UFS community proud of Wayde’s hat trick of awards

2015-11-24

The Kovsie athlete Wayde van Niekerk received a hat trick of awards at the SA Sports Awards on Sunday 22 November 2015. He was named Sports Star of the Year, Sportsman of the Year, and was crowned as winner in the People’s Choice category.
Photo: Charl Devenish

Wayde changed the game – Naidoo

For a long time, AB de Villiers and Chad le Clos have dominated fan support in South Africa, but Wayde van Niekerk changed the game.

This was what Kass Naidoo, well-known sports journalist and cricket commentator, tweeted after the Kovsie athlete, Wayde van Niekerk, made a clean sweep at the tenth SA Sports Awards in his home town, Bloemfontein, on Sunday 22 November 2015.

According to Naidoo, the golden boy from the University of the Free State (UFS) is now the hottest property in South Africa, and should be watched during the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

Hat trick for Kovsie athlete
Naidoo was one of several celebrities to congratulate Van Niekerk on Twitter after Wayde received a hat trick of awards in the Sand du Plessis Theatre. The 400 m athlete was named Sports Star of the Year, Sportsman of the Year, and was crowned as winner in the People’s Choice category.

Apart from this, a humble Van Niekerk received total prize money of R1,1 million and two luxury Mercedes Benz vehicles - one for Sports Star of the Year and one as People’s Choice winner.

Big names outperformed
What makes his awards even more remarkable is the fact that he has outperformed several big names.
In addition to De Villiers and Le Clos, the tennis player, Kevin Anderson, the swimmer, Cameron van der Burgh, and the athlete, Caroline Wöstmann, were all nominated for Sports Star of the Year.

For the People’s Choice Award, Van Niekerk beat De Villiers, the cyclist, Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio, (who was crowned Sportswoman of the Year), Le Clos, and the wheelchair tennis player, Lucas Sithole. The public voted for this award.

Le Clos was nominated with the mountain biker, Greg Minnaar, for Sportsman of the Year.

Best is yet to come
“I don't think we have seen the best of Wayde. Hopefully that will come in Rio next year, along with a gold medal,” Naidoo tweeted.

The Springbok winger, JP Pietersen, also congratulated Van Niekerk on the social network, saying that he deserved his award as Sportsman of the Year.

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