Van Staden takes gold at cue sport champs
Ehlanzeni District hosted the annual Mpumalanga Cue Sport (MCS) single championships for blackball and world rules recently, attracting players from as far as Secunda, Witbank, Ermelo and Carolina.
Although Lowveld representation was not great, those who did compete at Bosvark from Thursday to Saturday evening stood up to the plate.
Local legend in the sport, Hein van Staden was the only local player to win gold in the masters section for world rules, narrowly beating Dawie Krynauw from Waterval Boven in the semi-final stage.
Sanele Jozina just missed out on the gold in the u/23 blackball final. Thys Greef also had to settle for silver in his masters blackball encounter. Moses Malandula placed third to take home the bronze medal in the seniors, and Mulande du Plooy won silver in the women’s blackball event.
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Ehlanzeni ended the weekend with six medals, Nkangala with 13 and Gert Sibande with a whopping 45 medals on the board. According to Hendry Erasmus, technical director at the South African Confederation of Cue Sport, this was the 23rd year that players from the province had competed in the prestigious event.
“Overall we as MCS had a superb weekend in the Lowveld. The hospitality at the venue was remarkable. Bosvark has used this event to launch the cue sport market in and around Mbombela.”
Erasmus added that South African player, Van Staden, will be giving back to the community by offering free coaching to interested youth. MCS will also be placing three sponsored tables to the value of R96 000 in the Ehlanzeni District in 2017.
• The 2017 Club Championships will also be held at Bosvark from September 23 to 25 and will include blackball, world rules, speedball, mixed doubles and doubles.
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