6 athletes share E5.6m scholarship

EZULWINI – The future looks bright for six of the country’s top performing athletes.

This comes after the Eswatini Olympics and Commonwealth Games Association (EOCGA) Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Maxwell Jele, announced the list of athletes who qualified for the Olympics Solidarity Athletes Scholarship Programme.

The official handover of the scholarship to the athletes and their respective sports associations was done in an event held yesterday morning at the Sibane Sami Hotel in Ezulwini.

First time beneficiaries were taekwondo sensation, Carlota Munavo and female athlete Bongiwe Mahlalela.

They were joined by national sprinter Sibusiso ‘Swazi-Bolt’ Matsenjwa; boxer Thabiso Dlamini;and swimmers Hayley Hoy and Simanga Dlamini. Jele explained that the qualification process was performance-based.

Train

The athletes scholarship programme is aimed at affording high perfomance athletes the best possible opportunity to train and compete in their fields for a four-year period.

This is ‘Swazi-Bolt’ and Thabiso’s third scholarship award.

Jele said the six athletes would share the scholarship budget of US$7 500 (E118 500 as per yesterday’s currency exchange rate ) per month, tallying to about E1.4 million per annum and a little over E5.6 million over four years.

These funds would cater for their specialised training and competitions that they need to attend in their quest of qualifying for major events. “This is to assist the athletes to qualify for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

“This is a very important significant programme in the sense that it gives aspiring and high performance athletes to work towards qualifying for the Olympics. There are stringent obligations, both on the part of the athletes and the associations. The reporting is going to be on a four-month cycle and they are going to be evaluated,” Jele said.

EOCGA President Adam ‘Bomber’ Mthethwa appealed for the collaboration of the athletes’ sports associations

S. ‘Swazi-Bolt’ Matsenjwa (male) - Athletics Bongiwe Mahlalela (female) - Athletics Carlota Munavo (female) - Taekwondo Simanga Dlamini (male) - Swimming Hayley Hoy (female) - Swimming

Thabiso Dlamini (male) - Boxing

in ensuring good self-conduct of the athletes, and corporation between the clubs and EOCGA in keeping up with the athletes’ activities.

“It is always conditional that the athlete must behave in order to enjoy the scholarship. We want to emphasise that the activities we do as EOCGA is for the benefit of the athletes and it is conditional that the athlete must exercise self-discipline,” Mthethwa said.

The athletes had an opportunity to sign their scholarship agreements with the EOCGA president.

(Pics: Pholsile Hlophe) Sprinter Bongiwe Mahlalela signs her scholarship form while EOCGA President Adam ‘Bomber’ Mthethwa (C) and CEO Maxwell Jele pay close attention during the handover of the athlete scholarship.

L-R: Eswatini Olympic and Commonwealth Games Association CEO Maxwell Jele, EOCGA President Adam ‘Bomber’ Mthethwa, national sprinter Sibusiso ‘Swazi-Bolt’ Matsenja and Athletics Eswatini President Zakhele Dlamini during the handover.