Golfer and judoka are Tuks’s top sports stars
The University of Pretoria has excelled this year in terms of its sporting performance. They boast some of the country's best athletes.
A judoka and golfer from the University of Pretoria’s achievements in their respective sports was so great in the past year that they beat several well-known sports stars to be appointed as the university’s sportsman and sportswoman of the year.
Jacques van Zyl (judo) and Nobuhle Dlamini (golf) took top honours at the TuksSport Colours and Awards Function held in Pretoria last week. A total of 460 Tukkie athletes and officials were honoured.
Star judoka Van Zyl is an exceptional athlete. He became the first ever South African to be selected for participation at the World Masters Judo Championship this year. He was also one of two judokas to have ever won the Africa Senior Championships title that took place in 2013. Van Zyl is well positioned to reach the pinnacle of his career at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
Dlamini dominated the local amateur golf circuit this year. Her achievements have secured her the number one senior ranking in South Africa, as well as being ranked third in the world amateur rankings.
Other awards were: Student sports administrator of the year, Andrea van Rooyen (Aquatics); administrator’s award, Eddie Meiring (judo); coach of the year, individual sport, Nikola Filipov (judo); coach of the year, team sport, Pierre de Bruyn (cricket); student sport club of the year, shared by football and netball; sports team of the year, athletics; sports club of the year, cricket; student sportswoman of the year: Vanes-Mari du Toit (Netball) and student sportsman of the year, David Hunt (rowing).
At the World Student Games, TuksSport clubs and the University of Pretoria contributed 28 athletes and one coach across the various sporting codes to Team SA.
Notable performances by the University of Pretoria’s students include Guilio Zorzi (swimming, gold), Maryke Oberholzer (athletics, bronze) and Jacques de Swardt, Pieter Conradie, PC Beneke and Anneri Ebersohn (athletics 4x400m relay, bronze medal).
Kobus van der Walt, director of TuksSport, said the University of Pretoria has once again been blessed with a year of extraordinary sporting excellence. Highlights of the year, in which TuksSport achieved consistently in no less than 26 sporting codes, were:
* 108 national representatives of whom one represented Botswana, one Namibia, one Swaziland, one Zimbabwe and two Zambia
* 13 coaches and team managers officially accompanying senior national teams to international competitions.
National Federation team members of which two represented Zimbabwe
* 65 national age group team members of which one represented Namibia, including eight coaches and one manager
* 34 students were members of National University Sport South Africa (USSA) teams of which two were coaches and one a manager
* 26 students were members of other national student teams including five officials
* Most of the above as well as a further 206 Tukkies (including 12 officials) obtained senior provincial colours
* TuksAthletics won the USSA as well as Varsity Athletics
* TuksRowing (men’s VIII) won the USSA boat race for the 5th year running
* TuksHockey (women) won the USSA tournament
* TuksRugby won the Varsity Cup for the second year in a row. The Young Guns (u.20) also retained their championship title.
* TuksGolf won USSA as well as the University of St Andrews 600th Anniversary Invitational in Scotland.
* TuksCricket won Cricket South Africa’s (CSA) National Club Champions (2nd year in a row), the Northerns Cricket Union (NCU) Premier League Championship (3rd year in a row and unbeaten in 66 matches), the NCU Knock-out Competition (4th year in a row), and the NCU T20 Club Competition.
