Brakpan sporing highlights 2013 (July to December)

July

Kenneth Dube, golf director and local professional at Royal Oak Country Club, was awarded the Professional Golfers’ Association (PGA) of South Africa Order of Merit 2012 for the second time after scooping the award in 2009.

The ninth annual Easterns Junior Club Cricket Association (EJCCA) was held in Ekurhuleni with United Cricket Club hosting a number of matches.

Brakpan Rugby Club secured a spot in the 2014 Cell Community Cup and successfully defended the Valke Peregrine League title at home to Boksburg Rugby Club on July 13. The club’s u-21 team also earned their place in the u-21 version of the tournament.

The team then claimed another historic win a week later against the Varsity Cup champions, University of Pretoria (Tukkies), in the cross-border Predator League.

August

JP Buys from Brakpan Wrestling Club qualified to wrestle in the Word Wrestling Championships in Serbia.

Regional and South African champions Michelle Pieterse and Carla Britz from Brakpan-based Masters Gymnastics Club took part in an international gymnastics event in Geneva, Switzerland.

Ryan Beeton and navigator Paul Quick of Brakpan Flying Club participated in the fourth Race of Champions from August 9 to 11 in Ulundi, KwaZulu-Natal.

Brakpan Rugby Club continued their fine form in the Predator League with a big victory over Roodepoort that saw the “Panne” qualify for the semi-finals of the tournament. The team lost out in extra time of the semi-finals of the league to the University of Johannesburg (UJ).

Brakpan-based Xtreme Kickboxing Technologies’ fighter JP Kruger stole the show at EFC Africa 22 at Carnival City to claim a middleweight title fight by defeating Tumelo Maphutha with a sudden armbar that had his opponent tapping out.

Golf director and local professional at Royal Oak Country Club, Kenneth Dube, placed first in the 2013 Central Gauteng Regional Championship at the Royal Johannesburg and Kensington Golf Course over 36 holes. Dube won the tournament by a single shot over Ruwan Combrink with a gross total score of 141.

It was announced that former Brakpan resident and Paralympian Heugene Murray, a leg amputee, would lead a team of disabled South Africans against a team from the USA up Mount Kilimanjaro with an aim to raise funds to provide prostheses for 1 000 amputee children. The team will embark on the climb on January 17.

September

Sonneveld resident Anthony Shelley achieved his first major victory at Zwartkops Raceway in the 10th National 600 Super Sport Race.

Wrestler JP Buys of Brakpan Wrestling Club placed 12th in his category and division at the 2013 World Cadet Championship in Serbia in the 50kg category.

Royal Oak Country Club’s women’s team won the Eastern Gauteng Union’s Sunday Women’s League.

Brakpan Rugby Club hosted a reunion for all players who played with John Pace from 1960 to 1980. Former club and Eastern Transvaal players helped the former prop, who played against the All Blacks in 1970, to celebrate his 70th birthday.

United Cricket Club, who won the Eastern Promotion League title in the 2012/2013 season, were officially included as the 10th team in the Eastern Premier League. The inclusion allowed the club to upgrade the fields and pitches and install a new computerised sprinkler system for the elite competition.

October

The Valke ended the 2013 Absa Currie Cup season at the very end of the Division One table after a dismal campaign that saw the East Rand team win only two matches in the division.

Brakpan resident Jean-Pierre de Jager competed in the World Field Target Championships in Germany.

United Cricket Club played their first ever Eastern Premier League against CBC Old Boys at Hosking Park. The team put up a brave fight in the match but was defeated by seven wickets.

Brakpan’s Dalpark Football Club started their campaign in the Benoni South Local Football Association (BSLA) Division One. The team was heavily defeated in their first game.

The South African Rhinos Rugby League team took on a touring New South Wales Country Districts team from Australia at Bosman Stadium. The Rhinos were mauled by the visitors 58-18.

November

Brakpan paintball side Team H.K.G.K finished in first place in the open division. The team, led by Sean Powell, is also the African Paintball Series 2013 five-man open division champions.

Anthony Shelley achieved a final fifth position in the Super Sport Championship flor 2013 on his Kawasaki ZX6.

Ryan Phillips, Brakpan resident and Xtreme Kickboxing Technologies (XKT) kickboxer, represented South Africa at the Sportaccord World Combat Games in St Petersburg, Russia. The 20-year-old picked up a bronze medal for his country in the u-63kg men’s category.

December

Kenneth Dube, golf director and club professional at Royal Oak Country Club, was part of a South African pro-am team that participated in the Diner’s Club Pro-Am Classic title in Abu Dhabi. Dube and his compatriots defeated the second-placed USA with an 88-point score on the par 72 championship.

Brakpan Rugby Club’s Francois “Bones” Robbertse was awarded as the club’s Senior Sportsman of the Year for 2013 for a second consecutive year.

The Kempton Knights claimed victory in the men’s division at the 2013 Ekurhuleni Basketball Association Play-Offs at the Brakpan Indoor Sports Centre while the Katlehong Bulls were winners in the women’s finals.