Thrills and spills of 2014

The year 2014 had its fair share of thrills and spills especially on the sports field.

The New Year has begun and it is up to our local sports personalities to continue their winning momentum and learn from the failures experienced in the previous year.

Here are a few thrills of 2014:

January:

• Germiston’s Fran Hilton-Smith, the South African Football Association’s (SAFA) technical director, was elected to the then newly-formed FIFA Women’s Football Task Force.

March:

• Christelle Grobler, a Grade Six pupil at Laerskool Oosterkruin, took part in the South African National Primary Schools Athletics Championships in Paarl, in the Cape.

Grobler (u-12) represented Gauteng Province in shot put and discus. She won the u-12 shot put event when she threw 11.40m and was crowned as the South African National Champion.

In discus she made the podium position with a distance of 31.55m and was awarded a silver medal.

April:

• Julia Lutz, an Assumption Convent School pupil is now the undisputed South African u-15 champion in the 400m sprint, having come first in both the schools’ and the clubs’ leagues.

Among other accolades, she achieved four gold medals and one silver in the two South African championships events.

• Grade Seven St Catherine’s School student Nadia Calore, who is both senior primary school swimming team captain and Red House swimming team captain, won the victrix ludorum for the fourth consecutive year.
• The Ability Challenge, sponsored by Airports Company of South Africa (ACSA) and hosted by Wheelchair Tennis South Africa (WTSA), was staged on April 8, at the iThembelihle Lsen School in Primrose, Germiston.

May:

• Zachary Christophers from Germiston, was among those selected to be part of the squad of 50 developmental elite young men and women who were selected to represent the South African Schools Rowing Union (SASRU), at the Ghent International Regatta in Belgium.
• The Ekurhuleni Women’s Bowls Team were the winners of the gold medal at the Perfect Delivery/Bowls South African Inter-Districts competition in Pretoria.

The team defeated Gauteng North in the final.

• Assumption Convent School’s strongest open netball team took part in the Inter-Catholic Festival at Sacred Heart. The team managed to bring head and heart together and won by one point against Brescia.

June:

• Tebbutt Mixed Martial Arts Academy members took part in the WAKO SAs which were held in Pretoria. The members did their club proud as they received East Gauteng kickboxing colours.
• St Catherine’s Primary School student Caitlin Wedel (9) participated in a karate tournament and managed to get five first places.

July:

• Renstia Roetz, a pupil at Ho‰rskool Goudrif, was awarded South African colours for karate by SASCOC.
• Fearless Fighting’s Zack Mwekassa spoiled the Glory promotional debut of former UFC (Unlimited Fighting Championships) heavyweight Pat Barry, at Glory 16, in Denver, USA, by scoring a violent, first-round knock-out in Barry’s hometown.
• Fight Star 8 took place at the St John’s Hellenic Hall, on the corner of Lobelia and Wychwood roads in Primrose.

August:

• Primrose’s Unique Physique Gym had quite a few of its athletes taking part in the Boksburg Bodybuilding Competition.

The local gym’s results were:

1.  Anzelle Koekemoer: first place in the women’s fitness division.
2. Marius Wessels: third position in the master’s o-40 years division.
3. Lucky Tankiso: sixth in the u-80kg division.
4. Werner Cloete: fifth in the o-80kg division.

• Students from the Nippon Dojo Shotokan Karate Club in Dinwiddie won 22 medals at the Shin-Gi-Tai South African Championship.

September:

• Nikita Gerber excelled at the SANESA Ekurhuleni Awards. The young equestrian won the first place trophy and was the top points achiever for her school.
• Germiston Callies Harriers were the proud hosts of the Fred Morrison 21km and 10km road race which started and finished at the Germiston Stadium. Here, athletes from all corners of the country came out to take part.
• The Eastern Local Football Association (ELFA) Premier Cup final was held at the Delville Sports Club. Local rivals Germiston City FC and Luso Africa FC also made it to the finals, with their u-15s battling it out on the field. Germiston City put their best foot forward in an attempt to take the cup and spoil Luso’s winning streak, but, unfortunately, their efforts weren’t successful. They did, however, make Luso sweat for their victory.

October:

• Uwe Schmidt, a member of the Victoria Lake Canoe Club (VLC), was one of the numerous brave paddlers to take on the Sasol Lowveld Croc Canoe Marathon. He finished the race successfully in a time of five hours and nine minutes.
• Ekurhuleni junior Liam van Deventer, a Grade Six pupil at St Catherine’s Primary School, was over the moon when he came first at the recent Nomads SA u-13 Golf Championships.

November:

• Germiston Lake hosted the Ekurhuleni 5150 African Championship.

Henri Schoeman was the first male finisher in the men’s provisional category while Andrea Steyn took first position in the women’s provisional category.

• An explosive night of boxing is what fans witnessed at the Top Guns Boxing Tournament at Emperors Palace’s Centre Court.

Full fightcard results:

1. Junior Flyweight – eight rounds: Mbulelo Nxazonke vs Thabang Ramagole. Nxazonke won with a TKO in one minute and 28 seconds in the fifth round.
2. IBO Welterweight World Title – 12 rounds: Ali Funeka vs Roman Belaev. Judges scored the fight 105-104; 105-104 and 109-100 after the 11th round in favour of Funeka.
3. Cruiserweight – 10 rounds: Johnny Muller vs Kevin Lerena. The judges scored 98-92;97-93 and 97-93 in favour of Muller.
4. WBC International Light Heavyweight – 12 rounds: Tommy Oosthuizen vs Denis Grachev. Bout won by Oosthuizen with a TKO in the 11th round.

December:

• Peter de la Rey, a drag racer from Malvern East, took part in the South African National Drag Racing Championship. The race is a seven round series which de la Rey managed to win.
• Trinity Sports announced that its inaugural Sprint Series, which was held held at the Germiston Lake, ended on a high and has gained momentum in Gauteng.