Country’s Sports Awards Nominees Named

SouthAfrica.info (Johannesburg)

Brad Morgan

19 July 2011

The nominees for the 2011 South African Sports Awards were recently announced at the Amphitheatre at the Lost City in North West Province. The Awards will be held at Sun City’s Superbowl on 20 August.

Sports Minister Fikile Mbalula said: “It is very important that we continue to reward those who have achieved on and off the field of play.

“Many sportsmen and sportswomen put in a great deal of effort to ensure they get to the highest levels of participation. This shows our appreciation for their efforts.”

NOMINEES

SPORTSMAN OF THE YEAR

Cameron van der Burgh

Cameron van Burgh has proved himself to be a world leader in the breaststroke. He is the 50 metres world record holder, having set the record of 26.67 seconds when winning at the Fina World Championships in Rome in 2009. He also holds both the 50 and 100 metre short course records of 25.25 and 55.61 respectively. In 2010, he was crowned the Commonwealth Games’ champion after in both the 50 and 100 metres.

LJ van Zyl

LJ van Zyl is expected to be a gold medal contender in the 400 metres hurdles at the IAAF World Championships in South Korea at the end of August. There are good reasons for this. Chief among them is the fact that Van Zyl owns the four fastest times in the world this year. They include the African record of 47.66, which he ran in Pretoria in February and Ostrava in May. He was crowned 400 metres hurdles champion at the 2010 African Championships in Nairobi and won silver at the Commonwealth Games in Delhi.

Thulani Serero

Ajax Cape Town midfielder Thulani Serero enjoyed a superb season in the PSL and earned himself a lucrative contract with Ajax Amsterdam as a result. He also dominated the PSL Awards, being named Footballer of the Year, the Absa Premiership Player of the Year, the Players’ Player of the Year, and the Red Hot Young Player of the Season. Serero represented South Africa at under-23 and senior international level.

SPORTSMAN OF THE YEAR WITH A DISABILITY

Lucas Sithole

Having overcome numerous challenges associated with being a triple amputee, wheelchair tennis star Lucas Sithole currently holds the number one ranking in South Africa. A left-hander, he is also ranked number 14 in the world for the Quads men’s singles.

Samkelo Radebe

Through sheer determination and effort, double-amputee and multiple burn victim Paralympic athlete Samkelo Radebe overcame all the odds and won a silver medal in the 100 metres at the Commonwealth Games in Delhi. He also won the 100 and 200 metres at the Nedbank Athletics Championships for the Disabled and picked up silver in the 4 by 100 metres relay.

Hilton Langenhoven

Visually impaired Paralympic athlete Hilton Langenhoven proved himself a world beater at the Paralympics in Beijing in 2008. Competing in the F12 class, he won the long jump, pentathlon, and 200 metres. His contribution helped South Africa to finish an astonishing third on the athletics table. Last year, Langenhoven was appointed the first South African Sports Association for the Physically Disabled torch bearer and a Nedbank Brand Ambassador for people with disablities.

SPORTSWOMAN OF THE YEAR

Sunette Viljoen

Sunette Viljoen was crowned the 2010 Commonwealth Games champion in the javelin after throwing a Games’ record 62.34 metres. She had previously won gold at the 2006 Games in Melbourne. Viljoen also lifted the title at the African Championships in Athletics with a superb distance of 63.33 metres.

Pietie Coetzee

Hockey striker Pietie Coetzee has proved herself the most devastating goal scoring machine in the history of women’s international hockey, with 225 goals in 227 internationals. In June she netted four times in a game against the USA to become the game’s all-time leading goal scorer among women, breaking the 20-year-old record of 220 goals by Russian Natalya Krasnikova. Incredibly, Coetzee retired for four years while in her prime to concentrate on her studies, otherwise her goal scoring record would have been out of sight.

Noko Matlou

Noko Matlou was the first South African to be crowned the the Confederation of African Football’s Women’s Footballer of the Year in 2009. She has played a leading role in the increasing stature of the national women’s team, Banyana Banyana. Her efforts helped South Africa to a runner-up finish in the recent Cosafa Women’s Championship and into the four-team playoff for Africa’s two 2012 Olympic places.

SPORTSWOMAN OF THE YEAR WITH A DISABILITY

Kgothatso Montjane

South Africa’s number one ranked wheelchair tennis player, Kgothatso Montjane occupies 13th place in the world rankings. As a member of the South African wheelchair tennis women’s team, she was unbeaten at the ITF World Team Cup held in Pretoria earlier this year.

Natalie Du Toit

Swimming star Natalie du Toit has enjoyed a storied career and become a giant of the Paralympic world after fighting back from an accident in which she had a leg amputated. She has also competed against able-bodied athletes at the Commonwealth and Olympic Games. In Delhi, at last year’s Commonwealth Games, she won three events in the S9 class, the 50 and 100 metres freestyle and the 100 metres butterfly.

Emily Gray

Paralympic swimmer Emily Gray was the South African Sports Association for Physically Disabled’s official torchbearer at the opening ceremony of the Nedbank National Championships for Physically Disabled in March. She also took over from Hilton Langenhoven as Nedbank’s brand ambassador for sport for the phsically disabled. Since having her left leg amputated because of cancer of the left femur, she has excelled in swimming, representing South Africa in , Brazil, the Netherlands, Australia and Taiwan. In February, she placed fourth in the 400 metres freetsyle at the IPC World Championships in Eindhoven.

TEAM OF THE YEAR

Bowls Team South Africa

South African bowlers won a quarter of the team’s gold medals at the Commonwealth Games in Delhi to help the team tie for fifth on the overall medal table. With three champions, South Africa was also the leading lawn bowls’ nation at the Games. Shaun Addinall and Gerry Baker won the men’s pairs, while Johan du Plessis, Wayne Perry, and Gideon Vermeulen teamed up to win the triples. Tracy-Lee Botha, Susan Nel, and Susanna Steyn repeated the feat in women’s competition.

Vodacom Bulls

The Vodacom Bulls won the last edition of the Vodacom Super 14 tournament in 2010 to secure their third title in four seasons. They claimed the title with a 25-17 victory over the Stormers in a ground-breaking final played at the Orlando Stadium in Soweto.

Rocco Erasmus and Yvette la Grange P750 Inflatable Team

Rocco Erasmus and Yvette la Grange won the modified class in the Red Square 2010 P750 Inflatable World Championship off Durban. They dominated the event with eight wins in nine races over the course of three days.

NEWCOMER OF THE YEAR

Chad le Clos

Rising swimming star Chad le Clos made his presence felt at the Commonwealth Games by capturing gold medals in the men’s 200 metres butterfly and 400 metres individual medley. He added a silver and a bronze medal in relay races. Prior to the Commonwealth Games, he was South Africa’s outstanding swimmer at the Youth Olympics in Singapore, winning gold in the 200 metres individual medley, as well as three silvers and one bronze medal. Late in 2010, he won gold in the 200 metres butterfly at the Fina Short Course World Chmapionships in Dubai.

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