City’s Olympian is back on her board and she’s ready to grind

OLYMPIC skater Boipelo Awuah (pictured) will compete in her first event since her aborted attempt to do so in Tokyo earlier this year.

Tomorrow’s competition in Pretoria will be the stage for the Kimberley teenager competing for the first time since sustaining a pelvic fracture in an accident during training just days before making her Olympic debut.

Boipelo's father Baffour Awuah confirmed that her coming back home to South Africa helped her recovery immensely. He said she completed her treatment under specialist care in no time. “Within a short time she was healed,” he said.

Thrashers Skatepark in Pretoria will be the venue for this weekend’s Street Skateboarding tournament. The event is set to showcase invited athletes from around South Africa competing in the Men’s and Women’s Divisions, and is also open to up-and-coming skaters to put their skills to the test.

The Street Lines Skate tournament organiser Ryan van der Spuy confirmed that Boipelo and two other skaters from the Northern Cape, Mellissa Williams and Brandon Valjalo, will take part in the event.

“Men and women skaters will battle it out for their share of the prize purse and to see who will be crowned event champions,” said Van der Spuy.

The event, sponsored by LW Mag and Dragon Energy Drink in association with Dickies, Garmin and Gopro will have competitors pitted against each other in qualifying rounds where judges will be looking for use-of-park, variation, style and tricks to make their selection of skaters advancing into the finals.

“Competitors will be competing for their share of the over R40,000 prize purse, Garmin Instinct smartwatches as well as exclusive product prizes from Dickies,” added the tournament organiser.

“The tournament will conclude with the Best Trick competition open to all competing skaters, with the winner taking home the new Gopro HERO10 Black,” he added.

Van der Spuy further said that this was the time to build on the popularity of the sport. “Coming off the debut of Street Skateboarding in the Olympics, we are proud to bring a professionally run contest to the local Skate Action Sports scene,” he said.

“The inclusion of both Men’s and Women’s divisions is an important and exciting aspect in creating a platform that nurtures local talent,” Van der Spuy added.