Moot tug-of-war champs kick off in high spirits
Teams from around South Africa came together this past week to test their strength in the South African Tug-of-War National Championships.
Teams from around South Africa came together this past week to test their strength in the South African Tug-of-War National Championships.
The championships kicked off on Friday and continued until Saturday at Toutrek Park in Gezina.
Gauteng was tied for fifth place overall.
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Overberg was the overall champion of the SA Tug-of-War National Championship, with 61 points, beating the Western Province, which had 54 points.
All the provinces in the country were represented in the championships, according to SA Tug-of-War federation president Anton Botha.
“Unfortunately, however, due to a budget cut on national level, there are only about seven to eight provinces currently competing in this championship,” he said.
Botha said the teams competed in various categories.
“We have one venue where we do the whole championships,” he said.
“The championships include men, women and mixed categories. Our age categories include under 21, 23 and master divisions.”
Botha said a team in tug-of-war was made up of eight people.
“There are also different weight categories,” he said.
Overall, tug-of-war was a bigger sport than most people thought.
“There are 72 countries competing worldwide registered at the tug-of-war federation,” he said.
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“South Africa is doing very well on international levels – our ranking is fifth in the world overall.
“Our heavyweight men are third in the world. The youth team is on average between second and third in the world.”
Botha said the Junior World Championships would kick off in September this year.
“At these championships, the under-23 men, women and mixed teams will compete against teams around the world,” he said.
These teams will compete in Castlebar, Ireland.
He said the championships this past week was the final selection of the teams that would compete.
They were announced on Saturday evening.
The under-23 men’s team to compete are: Herman Joubert (Captain), Hans Schutte, Ethan Barker, Marc October, Donald Hays, Eben Matthee, Juan du Plooy, Elandre Kemp, Michael Phillips, AC Groenewald, Albert van Zyl and Mauritz Lambrechts (coach).
The under-23 women’s team to compete are: Jamè Phillips (Captain), Eliska Pienaar, Charne Goosen, Zounica van der Merwe, Nadia Bruce, Engela Bruwer, Nicolette Bruwer, Reana Swart, Anais van Heerden, Tinecke Brewies, Maryka van Deventer and Anton Gerber (coach).
Michael Lourens is the mixed teams coach, and Johan Colyn is the team manager.
“The selected teams will undergo intensive training before they leave for the championships,” he said.
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