Successful night for Team SA athletes at the SA Sports Awards

It was a successful night for Team SA athletes as they scooped up multiple accolades at the SA Sports Awards on Saturday.

The first award of the evening went to Portia Dimu, Events and Development Manager at Netball South Africa, who won Sport Administrator of the Year.

Ncuva (Limpopo) were crowned Indigenous Games Team of the Year. In action during the 16th Indigenous Games, Ncuva was the only team to win four medals.

St Benedict’s Rowing was crowned School Team of the Year. In 2021/2022 they achieved the following, to name a few: winners of the Gauteng Rowing Championships, first team winners of the South African Schools Boat Race and winners of the South African Schools Rowing.

The Developing School of the year award went to Helen Frans Special School Wheelchair Tennis. The school has been producing players and supporting Wheelchair Tennis Provincial to National players like Kgothatso Montjane and Elphias Maripa, who are now playing international. They won the Provincial BNP Paribas Rising Stars in 2021 and won the Provincial School games in 2022.

Samkelo Gambushe was named Photographer of the Year. He won the KwaZulu-Natal Sport Media person of the Year and Sport Journalist of the Year for two successive years (2021 and 2022).

The National Federation of the Year accolade was awarded to Cricket South Africa while Waves for Change was named Recreation Body of the Year.

Journalist of the Year was awarded to Hloni Mtimkulu.

Simnikiwe Bongco was awarded Newcomer of the Year. The promising 21-year-old boxer won bronze in the Commonwealth Games Birmingham, gold in the African Zone 4 Games and bronze in the African Games.

Springbok Sevens scooped up the Team of the Year award following their gold medal at the 2022 Commonwealth Games Birmingham, second place in the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series 2022 and first place in the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series 2021.

The Sportsman of the Year with a Disability award went to Jonathan Ntutu. At the 2021 Western Cape Sports awards he was the runner up in the Sportsman with Disability award. In February 2022 he competed in the Winelands International in the mixed 100m in which he obtained a gold medal with the time of 10.94s.

Zizo Popu won the Volunteer of the Year award. She was elected to serve as the general secretary of the SA Handball Federation. She was also a finalist for Volunteer of the Year in the Eastern Cape Sports Awards.

Rocco Meiring was awarded Coach of the Year. He coached Tatjana Schoenmaker, who won Gold in the 200m breaststroke and silver in the 100m breaststroke at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.

Sportswomen of the Year with a Disability went to Minke Janse van Rensburg. Minke is one of five South African swimmers with Down Syndrome that qualified to swim at the Down Syndrome World Championships but she is the only one of the five to hold four all-ages world records.

Sportswomen of the Year was awarded to 18-year-old Lara van Niekerk who is the current South African 50m and 100m Breaststroke champion.

Pieter Coetzee was named Sportsman of the Year after winning gold, silver and bronze at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games.

The following athletes were awarded the Lifetime Achiever’s Award:
– Dr Malumbete Ralethe
– Dr Cheryl Roberts
– Mr Louis Nel
– Ms Elizabeth May Ann Smith

The Minister’s Excellence Awards went to the following athletes:
– Phiwokuhle Mnguni
– Ashleigh Buhai
– Damien Bonhage – Koen
– Christopher Baxter
– Nkosinathi Hlatshwayo
– Charl Du Toit
– Andile Dlamini
– Andy Birket
– Laura Van Niekerk

The People’s Choice Award went to Mamelodi Sundowns star Themba Zwane who is a CAF Winner with Masandawna and PSL Player of the season.

The final award of the evening went to Andile Dlamini, named Sports Star of the Year.