South Africa's campaign at the 28th World Student Games officially got underway at the opening ceremony in Gwangju on Friday, as the national squad prepared to compete against the best university athletes in the world.
South Africa's campaign at the 28th World Student Games officially got underway at the opening ceremony in Gwangju on Friday, as the national squad prepared to compete against the best university athletes in the world.
The 114-member SA team will compete in seven sports codes – athletics, swimming, football, rowing, golf, gymnastics and shooting – with more than 13 000 competitors from 149 countries turning out at the multi-sport event.
Representing Rhodes University at the Student Games are rowers Nicholas Greeff, Tristan Wentworth, Murray Roodt and Bradley Betts
The athletics contingent, which bagged 11 of the nation's 14 medals at the 2013 Games in Kazan, will again be out to lead the charge.
They will be spearheaded by long-distance runner Gladwin Mzazi, a three-time gold medallist in the 10 000m and half-marathon events, as well as Commonwealth Games long jump silver medallist Zarck Visser.
Sprinter Akani Simbine is also expected to turn some heads in the 100m event after breaking the 10-second barrier with his 9.99 performance in Slovenia on Wednesday, and he will be chased by fellow Tuks speedster Henricho Bruintjies.
The athletics team is expected to be well supported by strong swimming and rowing contingents, consisting of some of the country's fastest rising stars, including Clayton Jimmie who helped the 4x100m freestyle relay team secure the silver medal at last year's Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.
While the Games opened on Friday (3 July), the SA football teams started their campaigns on Thursday (2 July), with the women's side being narrowly edged 1-0 by the United States and the men's squad going down 3-1 to France.
"We are grateful for the assistance we received from Lotto and Sports and Recreation SA in getting a full-strength team to Gwangju," said University Sport SA president Tyrone Pretorius.
"We would also like to thank our member universities who helped prepare and provide athletes, coaches and teams, as well as professional teams that released players for this event."
-University Sport South Africa
sport@grocotts.co.za
