TZANEEN: Former news anchor crowned best athlete
"It is a pity that the Jamaican sprinter, Usain Bolt has retired, because I wanted to challenge him in the 100 metres..."
Veteran radio news anchor Freddy Rikhotso has been crowned the best runner in Mopani recently at Giyani Stadium.
Rikhotso has won the best athlete 200m category in the Golden Games for the ederly.
He is well known to the public for reading the Xitsonga news at Munghana lonene Fm for many years and has since retired.
Read: Nkowankowa athlete competes at a national level
The 65 year old sprinter from Mafarana Village outside Tzaneen out-ran his peer athletes (60-69 years category) at the championships.
He beat athletes from five municipalities which includes, Greater Letaba , Greater Giyani, Maruleng, Ba-Phalaborwa Municipalities.
At the provincial games he managed to get second position at Peter Mokaba Stadium in Polokwane.
“It is a pity that the Jamaican sprinter, Usain Bolt has retired, because I wanted to challenge him in the 100 metres ,” he said.
Rikhotso is also an award winning author.
He has written 18 Xistonga books from different genres, with some of his books prescribved in high schools and universities.
Read: Athlete keeps on winning
He also received more than eight literary awards which include PanSalb Multilingualism Award in 2010.
Many of his accolades include being the best news reader voted by listeners in 2008, being a member of Limpopo Geographical Names Committee and has also visited other African countries for resesrch purposes.
He retired from radio in 2013 after serving the corporation for more than three decades.
He holds a B.A Degree from the University of the North currently known as the University of Limpopo.
In 2015 he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Philosophy in Literature by Omega Global University in Mpumalanga for his contribution in developing his mother tongue of Xitsonga.
