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01 March 2019 | Story Ruan Bruwer
Ruben Kruger
Ruben Kruger, one of the four Kovsie team members who helped his side to the second place at the national tennis club championship.

The impressive tennis team of the University of the Free State, the national student title holders, came very close to also being crowned as the national club champions on Monday (25 February 2019).

The team from the University of the Free State lost to Marks Park in the final of the Top guns national club tournament at Sun City by two games to one. Matches consisted of men’s doubles, women’s doubles, and mixed doubles, with optional rotation at the end of each set.

The team members from the UFS were Arne Nel, Ruben Kruger, Lienke de Kock, and Ester de Kock.

In the finals, the UFS won their one match in the mixed doubles thanks to the double pair of De Kock (Lienke) and Kruger.  

In the second version of the tournament 18 of the best clubs, including all the provincial tennis champs, competed for the honours as national club champions. The students’ second spot was an improvement on the fourth position the team achieved last year. That team also included Nel and De Kock. Last year they also lost to Marks Park, on that occasion in the play-offs for the third position.

On Saturday and Sunday, the UFS defeated both Aces (Limpopo) and Old Mutual (Western Cape) by 3-0 but lost to Brighton from KwaZulu-Natal in die final round-robin match.

In the semi-finals they were too strong for Kuils River of the Western Cape, winning by 2-0.

The team received prize money of R10 000 as runners-up plus R10 000 to be shared among the players.

News Archive

Diligence to be rewarded at the 2015 Spring Graduation
2015-09-15

The hard work of many students finally comes to fruition with this year’s spring graduation ceremonies taking place on Thursday 17 September 2015 on the Bloemfontein Campus.

A total of 124 diplomas, 419 bachelors and 56 honours degrees will be conferred on graduates from all seven faculties of the University of the Free State (UFS). In addition to the 599 conferrals, Professor Jeffrey Sachs, the world-renown American economist, will round out the number to 600 as the recipient of an honorary doctorate.  

The Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences wishes to express appreciation for his extensive contribution towards economic, social, and political development across borders with an honorary doctorate in Economics.

Prof Sachs has had a positive impact on global peace and security, climate change, sustainable development, human rights promotion, and governance through various platforms, including being a Special Advisor to United Nations (UN) Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, on the Millennium Development Goals (MDG). He also served as the Secretary-General’s MDG Advocate and Commissioner of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU)/United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Broadband Commission for Development.

In addition, Prof Sachs serves as the Director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University and Director of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network. As an author, he has featured three times on the New York Times bestsellers list, and is the co-founder of the Millennium Promise Alliance, and drives the Millennium Villages Project as its Director.

Graduates should expect words of salutation and encouragement from our main speaker, the Vice-Chancellor and Rector of the university, Prof Jonathan Jansen.

Two ceremonies will take place in the Callie Human Centre at 09:00 and 14:00 respectively. Attendees of the afternoon ceremony will witness the conferment of Prof Sach’s degree. There is a live stream option available on the university’s website to individuals who are unable to attend the ceremonies.


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