Team Lim ready to meet high expectations at NSC games

Moyahabo Mabeba

LIMPOPO – Team Limpopo will travel to Gauteng to partake in the annual National Schools Championships (NSC) games from Friday until Tuesday.

The multipurpose sports centre at the University of Pretoria with be a hive of activity as most of the events will be held at this esteemed sporting haven.

Team Limpopo will be in Pretoria courtesy of the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture, and the Department of Education.

The end-of-year NSC competition is the biggest school sporting event of the year and attracts large crowds who want to see some of the greatest sporting talents in priority sporting codes, indigenous games and games for the physically impaired, in action.

Provincial chairperson of the Limpopo School Sports Coordinating Committee, Benny Boshomane, confirmed the province will be represented in 16 priority sporting codes and four indigenous games. There will also be a wheelchair basketball team, intellectually impaired football team and a wheelchair tennis team.

Although Limpopo did not reach the top-four during last year’s championships, Boshomane remains upbeat, and hopes to improve on the previous results. Limpopo finished in sixth place on the overall log standings last year.

Boshomane identified the host province, Gauteng, which is the defending champion, as their chief threat in this championship.

“The hosts post a potential threat to anyone they are pitted against in this championship. They have the arsenal to conquer this battle of attrition with relative ease. Unlike their opponents from largely rural provinces like ours, they have all the required facilities to fine-tune their skills,” Boshomane said.

He also listed Free State, KwaZulu-Natal and Western Cape as strong competitors.

However, Boshomane is not worried they will return from Pretoria empty handed. He is optimistic they will achieve at least silver in swimming and khokho, one of the indigenous games gaining popularity in schools sports.