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03 July 2025 | Story Vuyelwa Mbebe and Aimee Barlow | Photo Supplied
Karabo Khanye
Karabo Khanye at the National Karate Awards Ceremony, where he received his South African national colours.

In a defining moment for both his personal career and the sporting legacy of the University of the Free State (UFS), karate champion Karabo Khanye has been awarded South African national colours. The honour was conferred at the National Karate Awards Ceremony on 21 June in Durban in recognition of his outstanding achievements on the international stage.

The awarding of national colours is one of the highest accolades in South African sport, symbolising excellence, dedication, and the ability to represent the country with distinction. For Khanye, this moment is the culmination of years of hard work and discipline. His selection followed a remarkable showing at the Commonwealth Karate Championships, where Khanye competed against some of the world’s top athletes. Representing Karate South Africa, he walked away with two silver medals. 

“I feel privileged that I was chosen for the Commonwealth team,” Khanye said. “Being able to bring home two silver medals just makes it that much better.”

The awards ceremony in Durban was not merely a formality but a moment of personal significance for the UFS athlete. Receiving his national colours served as both validation and motivation for the sacrifices he’d made to pursue excellence in his chosen sport. 

“It shows that the hard work I put in was not for nothing,” he said. “I am grateful to receive my national colours.”

With this latest honour under his belt, Khanye went on to compete at the University Sport South Africa (USSA) Karate Championships, held from 26 to 27 June in Pietermaritzburg. He successfully defended his title in the U60kg elite category, which he’d claimed at last year’s tournament. 

Khanye’s journey has been a source of pride for the UFS KovsieSport community. His success adds to the university’s growing reputation for producing high-performance athletes across various sporting codes. UFS celebrates Khanye’s achievements and looks forward to what promises to be an even more inspiring and successful future for this remarkable athlete.

News Archive

Two Kovsie women involved in international sports events
2012-05-14

 

Hetsie Veitch and Ebeth Grobbelaar
Photo: René-Jean van der Berg
14 May 2012

The organisers of two international sports events will depend on the expertise of two Kovsie women to make the events a major success.

The honour to be involved in international sports event has befallen Ms Hetsie Veitch and Ms Ebeth Grobbelaar.

The honour is the result of many years’ hard work and devotion in their respective fields.

In June, when the USA chooses the team to represent it at the 2012 Paralympic Games in London, Ms Veitch will be one of the classifiers who will determine in which categories athletes may compete.

Ms Veitch, Head of the Unit for Students with Disabilities at the University of the Free State (UFS), has been invited to be a member of the Classification Panel at the final USA Paralympic athletics trials. The trials take place from 27 June to 1 July 2012 in Indianapolis, Indiana, in the USA.

Ms Veitch and four other classifiers, two from Brazil, one from Canada and one from the USA, will test and verify the international classification status of the American athletes. No athlete will be allowed to take part without their classification being verified by the panel.

Ms Veitch, who recently achieved the status of International Paralympic Committee (IPC) Athletics Classifier, the highest achievement for a classifier in sport for the disabled, said that this category of sport has always been her passion.

“To have the opportunity to be involved in the classification of the USA team for the London 2012 Paralympic Games is a huge honour. I am going to start working on being chosen for the official IPC classification panel for the 2016 Paralympic Games in Brazil.”

Ms Grobbelaar, Assistant Director of the South African Testing Laboratory for Prohibited Substances at the UFS, was invited to be involved in the Drugs Control Centre in the unit against prohibited substances which will test sportsmen and women during this year’s Olympic Games in London.

Ms Grobbelaar said that even though the future of sportsmen and women would be in her hands, she is totally capable of carrying out the task that awaits her.

“I will be part of the laboratory team who will test the athletes’ samples for prohibited substances. I was part of the South African team who tested samples in our own laboratory in 2010 during the FIFA Soccer World Cup, as well as for the All Africa Games. The task is one I perform every day in our own laboratories. Each sample that I analyse determines an athlete’s future. The circumstances during the Olympic Games are different, but the work remains the same.”

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