UJ athletes take home all the medals

University of Johannesburg (UJ) Athletics Club recently secured a haul of 47 medals at the Central Gauteng (CGA) Championships.

UJ athletes impressed, as they brought home 15 gold, 17 silver, and 15 bronze medals at the Athletics Stadium in Westdene.

While securing these impressive results, many UJ athletes, both men and women across various categories, also achieved qualifying times for the upcoming national championships. These include the senior Athletics South Africa (ASA) Championships that took place from March 21–24 in KZN and the U18–23 championships in Tshwane.

Nolwazi Mashaba led the charge for UJ, claiming the first gold medal in the women’s long jump with a leap of 6.14m. Bophelo Seoe and Mahlatse Dombeni followed closely behind, securing silver and bronze medals, respectively, with jumps of 5.92m and 5.87m.

Yané van der Merwe continued her consistent form, adding a silver medal to the UJ tally in the opening women’s shotput event with a throw of 8.76m.

“The club did incredibly well in this edition of the Central Gauteng Athletics Championships,” said Roger Haitengi, manager and coach of the UJ Athletics Club. “These performances are a fantastic confidence boost heading into the University Sport South Africa (USSA) championships in Stellenbosch during the first week of April. While we’re thrilled with our success at home, our athletes need to stay focused and maintain peak physical condition to defend our 2023 title won in Bloemfontein in May.”

Sabelo Dhlamini, who won two gold medals in the championship said, “As UJ athletes, we were very happy and excited when we found out that this year’s provincial championship were going to be held at our home track. This is where we push ourselves every day – performing in front of our home crowd enabled us to get close and even beat our lifetime best performances as a result.”
On a personal note, this was a great competition because he was injured just a couple of weeks ago and thought he wouldn’t be able to qualify for the National Championship. “Doing it in two events is such a confidence booster, and I am very optimistic going into future event,” said Dhlamini.

Fellow athletes Klariska van Staden, Khanyisile Thwala, Faith Mabena, Kaylee le Roux, Ntokozo Gumede, Kgopotso Shokane, Akonyi Ngongo, and Londeka Mavimbela as well as Olothando Sakwe, Rasheed Gardee, Ntandoyethu Ndaba and Lehlogonolo Lusiti represented the university well in the senior sections.

Related article: UJ athletics team shines