What a year of Brakpan sport: January to June 2019 highlights
The year 2019 produced many highlights for local sports stars.
Here are the noteworthy moments for the months January to June:
January
• The year started on a high note with United Cricket Club, who were based in Brakpan at the time, beat Actonville by 92 runs in an away Easterns Cricket Union Premier League match.
• Combat sports specialist Raymond Phillips achieved another personal milestone when he was graded Muay Thai instructor. This is an addition to the numerous achievements he has reached in martial arts.
February
• Gamer Edwin “Drager” Williams qualified to represent South Africa at the World Electronic Sports Games in China.
• State Mines Country Club’s Casey Jarvis became the youngest golfer to win the IGT Challenge Tour at his home course. Jarvis was only 15 years, seven months and 22 days old at the time.
Also read: SONA 2019: Highlights from President Cyril Ramaphosa’s speech
March
• Brakpan Rugby Club hosted their annual Rugby Day where 16 clubs (35 teams) took part at the Bosman Stadium. Unfortunately, the local club did not perform well as their first team was well-beaten by Tuks.
• Brakpan Wrestling Club continued to show why it is one of the most respected clubs around. Jacques Kriel and Arghale Muller picked up gold medals at the South African Wrestling Federation’s President’s National Championships in Cape Town.
• Karatekas from the Dan Triangle Karate Club trained with world-renowned instructor Mikio Yahara, from Japan. The training took place in Johannesburg.
April
• Brakpan Wrestling Club’s Jacques Kriel and Fernando Booysens won gold medals at the Continental Championships, in Tunisia, while representing South Africa. Morne Pretorius came fourth at the event.
• Mixed martial arts history was made as the Brakpan Indoor Centre hosted the first-ever unified South African National Championships for amateurs.
• Former Brakpan resident JP Buys beat Luthando Biko to win his bantamweight title at EFC 78 in Cape Town.
May
• Igeu Kabesa beat Karlo Caput to retain his EFC featherweight title at Carnival City. The EFC 79 event also saw Themba Gorimbo beat Jose da Rocha to earn a welterweight title shot.
• Bosman Stadium hosted the Supersport Challenge which saw the Valke beat Griffons 41-31 in an entertaining encounter.
• Bahrain won four gold medals at the Africa Open Championships. South Africa finished with one gold medal less. The event was hosted at the Brakpan Indoor Centre.
June
• Brakpan’s Adel Thomaz (8:22), Eric Mbuyisa (8:12) and Xolane Bavuma (8:52) all ran Comrades Marathon in under nine hours to receive their Bill Rowan medals. Rene van den Worm (9:56), Hybre Geldenhuys (11:23), Sam Mokgotho (10:06), Lucky Mokgotho (10:56), Stuurman Mnqobani (11:24), Sandile Makeleni (11:43) and Marsha Davids (11:44) all beat the cut-off time of 12 hours.
Also read: Mayor shares highlights of 2019
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or Stacy Slatter (news editor) stacys@caxton.co.za
or Miné Fourie (journalist) minev@caxton.co.za
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