FSSSI athletes to represent SA at 2017 Commonwealth Youth Games
The Department of Sport, Arts, Culture and Recreation (SACR) has through the Free State Sport Science Institute (FSSSI) produced athletes that will form part of the South African Team to participate at the Bahamas 2017 Commonwealth Youth Games in Nassau from 19 – 23 July 2017. The Commonwealth Youth Games are held every four years and Team South Africa was placed second in 2015 with a total of 35 medals. The team will have representation in six of the nine sporting codes being showcased on the Caribbean Island. The six codes are: Athletics, Beach Volleyball, Boxing, Judo, Swimming and Tennis.
FSSSI athletes that will represent South Africa at the Bahamas 2017 Commonwealth Youth Games are as follows:
- Mosa Thetsane will represent SA in Judo.
- Coach Preston Davids also from the FS Academy Elite Athlete Support Programme will accompany the Judokas to the Bahamas.
- Mpho Tladi was in fine form during the CAA African Junior Championships in Algeria, he won the men’s 110m hurdles final in 13.78 to become the new African Junior Champion. Team SA finished 2nd behind Ethiopia.
- Wilco Nienaber won his third Golf title this season in the Nomads National Order of Merit Coastal. He kicked of 2017 with a trophy finish in the season-opening Nomads National Order of Merit Inland in Benoni in January, followed by victory in the Northern Cape Open in early March and later the same month the 17-year old won the Curro SA Juniors International Title. In April won the Nomads North and South National Order of Merit in Bloemfontein which rocketed him into the the top 5 SA Golf Association’s Junior Rankings.
- Chante van Zyl is the joint leader in the Nomads SA Girls Golf Championships in Orkney. Gabrielle Venter is also under the top 12. The 2017 Girls Championships drew a field of 104 entries that includes 21 Juniors.
- Gizelle Naude and Linge Steenkamp are part of a team of 22 girls in the SA High School Tennis team who will not only attend the Wimbledon Championships, but also play two matches against top English tennis establishments. The players were selected after the recent Junior High Schools Inter Provincial event in Gauteng, which included players from all Provinces.
- Wayde van Niekerk rewrote the record books again with his 30.81sec in the 300m at the Golden Spike meeting in Ostrava, Czech Republic.
- Dineo Mokhosoa is one of six debutants selected to represent team SA at the IPC Paralympic World Championships in London from 14-23 July 2017.
- The totally blind Bloemfontein athlete, Louzanne Coetzee and her guide Khothatso Mokone, wrapped up her three-race campaign at the Para-Athletics Grand Prix in Notwill, Switzerland with an impressive improvement on her own T11 5000m mark to 18min 14.27 sec. The new national 800m mark behind her name stands at 2:30.18 while she also had a solid win in the 1500m event with a time of 4:59.54.
- Vusi Sithole was included in the SA Basketball Team which competed at the BRICS Games in June in China. Team SA won the bronze medal.
- Izane Louw has been selected to participate in the World Junior Women’s Individual Squash Championships from 19 – 24 July in Tauranga, New Zealand.
Netball SA has named a 26-member SPAR Protea squad for a training camp in Pretoria in July. Maryka Holtzhausen, Khanyisa Chawane, Karla Mostert and Tanya Mostert from FS have been named part of the Squad. Khanyisa Chawana will also represent Team SA at the Netball Youth World Cup in Botswana as Captain of the SA u/21 team.
“The Free State Sport Science Institute is at the pinnacle of the sport development continuum. The institute provides sport science, conditioning and rehabilitation services to elite sport athletes and clubs in the Free State. We wish all our athletes the best of luck at these games and we are confident that they’ll bring back more medals than in previous years” said MEC Mathabo Leeto.
Enquiries:
Tankiso Zola
Cell: 082 940 2392
Tel: 051 4104742/4786/4735
Email: tankiso@sacr.fs.gov.za
