Category: Sports

National School Sport Championship 2023 winter games are back for yet another thrilling youth championships in Ekurhuleni

The National Department of Sport, Arts and Culture (DSAC) in partnership with the Department of Basic Education (DBE) and the Gauteng Department of Sport, Arts, Culture and Recreation invite members of the media and the general public to yet another exciting edition of the 2023 National School Sport Championship. This years’ winter games championships will take place from Tuesday, 04 – Thursday, 06 July in Benoni and Boksburg, Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality in the Gauteng Province.

Over 3 456 athletes from across all the 9 provinces will participate in this years’ National School Sport Championship winter games. The young athletes from different genders, age and racial groups will battle for various championship honours in several sporting codes that among others include, football, netball, rugby, tennis, Kho-Kho, volleyball, Jukskei and hockey as well as chess with games simultaneously taking place across various sporting fields within City of Ekurhuleni.

The championships will include a social cohesion and nation-building campaign, “A Child First, an Athlete Second”, an awareness campaign linked to the safeguarding of children in sport; as well as other sport development awareness campaign such as ‘NO TO AGE CHEATING’, and ‘NOT TO SUBSTANCE ABUSE.’

Spearheaded by the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture, and the Department of Basic Education, the National School Sport Championships remains the premier bedrock platform for sport development. The winter games Championships will culminate with awards presentation, and the official closing ceremony on the afternoon of Thursday, 6th of July.

The Winter Games Championships will unfold as follows:

Date: Tuesday, 04th – Thursday, 06th of July 2023.

Times: 08h00 – 18h00?

Venues: Volleyball – John Barrable Hall

Tennis – Benoni East Tennis Court

Chess – Benoni High School

Hockey – Benoni Northern and St Dunstan School

Netball – Benoni High School

Jukskei – Boksburg Jukskei Club

Kho-Kho – Benoni Northern -B

Rugby: Hoërskool Hans Moore

Football – Benoni Northern-B (ASC) U/15; Benoni Northern-A u/19 Deaf; and St Dunstan School u/17

Source: Government of South Africa

South Africa’s women’s football team, known as Banyana Banyana, are in turmoil ahead of the World Cup due to be held in Australia and New Zealand later this month.

On Sunday, the players boycotted a warm-up match against neighbouring Botswana to show their dissatisfaction.

Banyana Banyana are one of Africa’s top teams having won the Africa Cup of Nations last year.

Unequal pay, salary disputes and anger over bonus agreements are the main reasons for the long-standing clash between South Africa’s most successful national football team and the country’s football association, Safa.

Football’s world governing body Fifa announced an incentive of $30,000 (£24,000) for world cup-bound players.

The South African team asked for written assurances that they would get the money but that hasn’t been forthcoming.

Instead, the players were allegedly told they could leave the camp over the disagreement. Frantic calls were then made by officials to put together a make-shift squad to rescue the friendly match against Botswana and avoid a fine.

The ill-prepared team, which included a 13-year-old, suffered an embarrassing 5-0 loss against a team ranked 96 places below the South Africans.

“Instead of Safa resolving the matter, Safa has been calling clubs and perpetuating poverty, poor and unworkable conditions… the ladies are resolute and we’re in support of them,” the ehad of the players’ union Thulaganyo Gaoshubulwe said.

Safa has told the BBC that negotiations with the team are still going on.

Source: BBC

MEC Marais to start Netball World Cup trophy tour on Monday

On Monday, 3 July 2023, the Western Cape MEC of Cultural Affairs and Sport, Anroux Marais, will be receiving the Netball World Cup trophy from the Eastern Cape Government and embarking on a tour across the Western Cape so that communities will be able to see the trophy on display.

The trophy tour will travel as follows:

Monday, 3 July – Trophy is handed over to the Western Cape from the Eastern Cape Government at the Tsitsikamma Khoisan Village (Bloukrans Bridge). Formal programme to start at 14:20 – please note, time is subject to change depending on travelling time and conditions.

Tuesday, 4 July – Trophy to be displayed in Plettenberg Bay (Plettenberg Bay Primary School – 08:00), then travels to Beaufort West (Rustdene Sports Stadium – arrival at 12:00) and Prince Albert (PACT centre and travelling to Sydwill Williams Hall – estimated time 14:30).

Wednesday, 5 July – Trophy goes to George (Unity Park – York street – arrival at 10:30, then Imizamo Yethu High School, Thembalethu at 12:00 ), then to Hartenbos (Legacy Netball Courts at 14:00) and Riversdale (Riverville Sport Grounds at 17:00).

Thursday, 6 July – The tour starts in Swellendam (08:00), then goes to Langeberg (10:30), Drakenstein (14:30) and then to the Swartland area (17:00).

Friday, 7 July – Travel to Saldanha Bay (09:00), then to an activation at the Vredenburg Mall (11:00).

The tour ends on the afternoon of 7 July, when the trophy will be brought to Cape Town (arriving at 15:00), when it will be handed over to the City of Cape Town.

Women’s sport plays an important role in empowering our girls and women and in creating safe spaces for women to connect with each other. We hope to see this World Cup inspiring many more young girls to take up sport within their communities.

The Netball World Cup will also bring a large economic injection to the Western Cape by stimulating the local economy through tourism. It will also create jobs through the creation of large venues for matches to be watched, as well as by increasing demand for local services through tourism.

Now is the time to support our women’s teams as they compete at these international events. Let us all get behind our Netball team as they prepare to keep the cup in Cape Town!

Note to media: The times indicated in the tour schedule are currently only estimates and may change depending on travel times and conditions. Media interested in covering all or parts of the trophy tour, should please contact Tania Colyn to be added to a media whatsapp group for this event. Real time updates for every day of the tour will be given on the whatsapp group.

Source: Government of South Africa

The #BeFree Ballers hosted a 7-a-Side hybrid football tournament on Saturday at Ella Du Plessis High School Sports Stadium for young male and female sports stars.

The Deputy Minister of Sports, Youth and National Service, Emma Kantema-Gaomas, said young men and women should not think their parents are punishing them by keeping them home and away from drugs.

“Parental involvement is crucial, especially when it comes to issues involving children committing suicide,” Kantema-Gaomas said.

Kantema-Gaomas further added that instead of speculating, everyone should join the fight against drug abuse.

“We need to really spend time and interrogate ourselves; we need to motivate our children; we need to speak to them on a daily basis,” Kantema-Gaomas said.

Speaking at the same event was David Emvula, a specialist obstetrician and gynaecologist at Lady Pohamba Private Hospital, who highlighted the dangers associated with drug usage and urged the youth to stay away from smoking hookah pipes and marijuana.

“Sportspersons will be banned from sports if they use substances such as steroids, which is why future athletes must discover themselves and stay away from drugs. Steroids may be advantageous in the short term, but they will cause irreversible damage to an athlete in the long run,” Emvula cautioned.

According to the newly crowned Women’s Super League champion, Tura Magic Football Club’s Thomalina Adams, men in football make more money than women; more men travel to foreign nations to play football, and only a few women go abroad.

She also stated that she is happy with the regional women’s league that is set to kick off in July.

“With this league, hopefully there will be fewer teenage pregnancies and substance abuse because the young stars will be more involved in sports,” she said.

According to Kaarina Iita, the Head of Programmes at #BeFree, the aim of the event was to educate and empower young professionals in the sports fraternity by offering guidance and support.

“The tournament offers a judgement-free platform for open dialogue where the youth can foster a community of self-awareness and understanding of sexual and reproductive health rights,” Iita said.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency

The Namibian Unified Basketball Team won a bronze medal in their division one play-off in the men’s mixed unified sports team competition at the Special Olympics World Games in Berlin, Germany on Saturday evening.

Namibia won the third-place play-off match 15-12 against Uruguay after 10 minutes of action at the Neptunbrunnen Berlin Centre.

The Namibian team that lost its semi-final game 7-21 earlier in the day against Korea came into the match against Uruguay as a much-improved outfit that was firing on all cylinders.

Uruguay put the points first on the scoreboard but that did not worry the Namibian boys who had set their eyes on the last silverware in their division.

Brilliant play in the opening two and a half minutes of that match saw Namibia leading the scoreboard 6-2, with goals from their unified partner Vincentius Boois who scored four points and Pepua Kambueza, who had two points.

Namibia stood their ground and extended their lead to 10-4 with less than three minutes left in the game as another unified partner Javier Nghishilenapo added three more points and Tjatanaurua Tjakuva add another point for Namibia’s comfortable lead at the time.

The Uruguay team started crawling back into the game after making some changes and were just a point behind the Namibian team at some stage of the game but once again brilliant combination from Boois, Kambueza, Tjakuva and Munouwa Haita saw the Namibian team adding more points to the scoreboard to finish the match as winners with a 15-12 score line.

After seven days of competition, Team Namibia has won four medals (one gold, two silver and a bronze) from athletics, track and field events, 3×3 unified men’s basketball and road cycling.

Meanwhile, Namibia’s female cyclist Vitjituaije Master missed out on a podium place in the five-kilometre ride after finishing fourth in that event on Saturday morning. The cyclist, who was also scheduled to compete in the 10km time trial, could not compete in that event as she fell sick after her first race.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency

The Namibian Unified Basketball Team will contest for third and fourth place play-off in the men’s mixed unified sports team competition at the ongoing 2023 Special Olympics World Games in Berlin, Germany after losing its semi-final play-off on Saturday.

The men’s 3×3 unified basketball team lost its match against Korea 7-21 at the Neptunbrunnen Berlin Centre.

The Namibian team, which sustained injuries during their divisioning games, found the going tough in the opening minutes of their semi-final match. Team Namibia found it hard to get the ball into the basket, while their opponents used every opportunity to put up points on the scoreboard.

With just two minutes remaining in their 10 minutes game, the Namibian team trailed by seven points as the game stood at 5-12. Korea showed renewed energy with their substitutes, who came in to score nine more points.

The defeat means the Namibian team will miss out on an opportunity to contest for the gold medal but will still have an opportunity to win silverware in the bronze medal play-off against Uruguay, who lost their semi-final match against Cuba 15-9 also on Saturday.

The third place-off will be held from 18h00 on Saturday evening.

Meanwhile, in athletics, Louise Sagaria missed out on a medal on Friday evening after finishing fifth in the long jump Level A competition at the Hanns-Braun Stadium.

The Namibian jumped 3.99 metres to finish fifth, while Adel Takacs of Hungary won the gold, Yelyzaveta Ilienko of Ukraine took silver and Sele Barrios of Venezuela walked away with the bronze medal.

After seven days of competition, Team Namibia has won three medals (one gold and two silver) from athletics, track and field events and road cycling.

Source: The Namibia Press Agency