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Patience Ntshingila.
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Out of the 34 athletes in this team, the NWU-Puk is represented the best.
The NWU-Puk’s Hennie Botha will also accompany the team as middle-distance coach.
The 12 athletes are Simon Magakwe (100 m), Rapula Sefanyetso (200 m), Andre Olivier (800 m), Gert Manora (5 000 m), Edwin Molepo (3 000 m steeplechase), Thumelo Thangane (hop, skip and jump), Bernard Crous (javelin), Dean Brummer (3 000 m steeplechase), Rorisang Ramonnye (400 m), Justine Robbeson (javelin), Sunette Viljoen (javelin) and Patience Ntshingila (hop, skip and jump).
Among the NWU-Puk’s leading medal contenders are Magakwe, Olivier, Molepo and Thangane for the men, and Viljoen and Robbeson the women with a good chance for a place on the podium.
However, it is not to say that any of the other athletes should be written off.
On the contrary, to underestimate them at all will be foolish.
“I’m very excited about the possibility of a few medals,” Terseus Liebenberg, athletics manager of the NWU-Puk, said.
“These are the most NWU-Pukke ever to be included in the national student team and I think it points to the quality of coaching and the quality of the athletes at the university.
The athletes arrive here with a lot of potential and the coaches cultivate and develop it until they are at their best.
For the athletes it is a reward for hard work and we are very proud of them,” Liebenberg said.
In addition, six NWU-Pukke have also been included in the South African team of 22 athletes that are going to participate in the world championships in Daegu, Korea.
They are Magakwe, Elroy Gelant (5 000 m), Thagane, Willem Coertzen (decathlon), Robbeson and Viljoen.
Article by Bertie Jacobs.
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