Let the Tshwete Games begin

BCM to welcome 2 000 athletes to extravaganza

BUDDING young sport talent will be on show across East London this week as the annual Steve Vukile Tshwete (SVT) Games get under way today.

The games will be launched to much fanfare at the opening ceremony tonight. However, some sports, such as rugby sevens and boxing tournaments, will begin today.

With the department of sport, recreation, arts and culture (Dsrac) in partnership with Buffalo City Metro (BCM), South African Local Government Association (Salga) and Eastern Cape Sport Federation (ECSF) hosting the popular provincial sporting games, some exciting action is expected over the week leading to Frid finals.

“We are confident this will once again be exhilarating games which will be characterised by competition and fun,” said BCM mayor Xola Pakati.

“These games are properly named after Steve Tshwete, a very courageous icon of our struggle and a true son of the soil.

“We wish all the teams and sporting codes all the best and hopefully our local teams will ensure that the titles don’t get into buses leaving the city.”

In all, 2 000 athletes from all the Eastern Cape regions will be in action across seven sporting codes – goalball, football, netball, volleyball, rugby sevens, boxing and table tennis.

The purpose of these games is to encourage and promote mass participation in sport, especially in disadvantaged communities, and afford the youth in the province an opportunity to live healthy and active lifestyles through sport which will assist in keeping them away from crime and other social ills.

“It is indeed with great excitement that we are coming together as the sport-loving people of the Eastern Cape for the SVT Games in Buffalo City,” said sport, recreation, arts and culture MEC Pemmy Majodina.

“The eight districts of the Eastern Cape will over three days be sweating it out on the field of play in order to be crowned the first provincial champions of these historic games.

“Athletes are urged to give it their all, guided by the principle of ‘fairness in sport’.

“May the best of the best win so they remain part of our history.”

The players were selected through a process of games played in their local municipalities and district levels. One of the athletes taking part is Khuliswa Maligilindane, a blind woman from Ngqushwa who is thrilled to participate in the games’ second edition.

She forms part of the Amathole district’s senior goalball team, a sport for athletes with visual impairments.

“I am excited to have been selected as one of the players, especially because I am disabled,” said Maligilindane.

“I used to be a soccer player and coach but lost my eyesight in 2004. However, that didn’t hinder me from participating in sport.

“I decided to find a sporting code that I can participate in as a blind person and that is how I started playing goalball. Not many people know about this sporting code, but it gives blind people the opportunity to still showcase our sporting talent,” Maligilindane said.

The opening ceremony takes place at the Buffalo City Stadium from 5pm today.