Two teams bring medals at home
The teams were also playing against KwaZulu-Natal which is the province that was giving many provinces a tough time.
Sports is identified as a powerful tool that can play a significant role in terms of eradicating poverty.
This was revealed during the three-day indigenous games that was held at the Pretoria showgrounds which was aimed at celebrating the heritage month in the country.
Delivering the keynote address, the deputy minister of sports, arts and culture, Gert Oosthuizen encouraged young people who are talented in sports, to take this field very seriously. It was announced that the games are growing as many people from different provinces were showcasing their talent in different games such as itonga, khokho and ncuva, dibeke, kgati, drie stokkies and juksie.
”As a department, we have priotized these type of games and we are planning to take these games internationally because indigenous games play a significant role in terms of uniting different nations. We may never know, maybe in 10 years to come the games can go professional.
“We don’t know what the future holds. Even though the games were up to standard and the competition was very tough,” he said.
Two teams of this province managed to put Mpumalanga on the spotlight after they managed to bring home two medals. The Mpumalanga Itonga obtained a silver medal and the Ncuva team obtained a bronze medal which is a big achievement to the province.
The teams were also playing against KwaZulu-Natal which is the province that was giving many provinces a tough time.
Speaking to Mpumalanga Mirror, the team manager of Itonga, Jacob Masina indicated that he was over the moon that his team managed to bring something home as he said: “We were aiming for a gold medal, but I’m happy that we are in second position and my team was well prepared because some of the players was their first time to play at a national level.
“I was so impressed with their performance,“ he explained.
One of the Itonga players, Nthabeleng Tshangase, who left many spectators speechless after his wonderful performance said he was not even shaken by the other provinces because he knows his story. “It was my first time to perform at national level, but I was not shaken because I practise and I managed to use all the skills that I have gained during the practise and come next year, I’m confident that next year Itonga will bring a gold,“ said Tshangase.
He was not the only the player who showcased his fighting skills, but also Sarah Moukangwe in the women’s senior Itonga did excel, too.
“I started fighting at any early age and I was fighting with boys in most cases. I think that’s what makes me strong in this game because it’s all about skills,“ she said.
Even though some of the teams performed well, but there’s still a long way to go for them as this paper learnt that most of the teams don’t have camps. One of the Mpumalanga team players was quoted saying: “Our problem is that we don’t have camps, that is affecting our performance very badly because we need to practise a lot. Every time we prepare in the last minute as we know that practise makes perfect,“ she said.
