It was jam-packed and full of action at the DUT 2024 Fresher’s Cup on Saturday, 16 May 2024 at the Fred Crookes Sport Centre, Steve Biko campus as the Durban campus team outplayed the Midlands campus team cruising to victory securing eight wins out of 11 games in different sport codes.
Durban was awarded with the 2024 Fresher’s Cup trophy as the tournament winners and all participants received their medals. Durban won gold medals in football, netball, rugby, and basketball. While Midlands obtained three gold medals in volleyball and chess.
Students were not only served with sports action, but entertainment, refreshments, free DUT t-shirts, and health services were also present. Fans were having the time of their lives, dancing, singing, and rallying behind their teams.
DUT Sport Administration unit Manager, Bongani Yengwa, was pleased with the success of the tournament as it aligned with ENVISION2030 and shared that it will assist players for their upcoming University Sport South Africa (USSA) and Varsity Football tournaments.
“From year to year, there is a great improvement in terms of time, participation and preparedness of the teams. They knew well in advance about the Fresher’s Cup. This tournament also allows them to break into the first teams. It also brings togetherness between campuses which also helps in the USSA tournaments because we compete as one institution. Again, with DUT ENVISION2030, this is in line with that in terms of DUT society, stewardship, and sense of belonging,’’ said Yengwa.
Durban campus male football team coach, Andile Mavundla said there were a lot of positives in their 2-0 victory against Midlands.
“The future is bright although there were a few things we were not happy about. On their overall performance, we were happy. However, there is still a long way to go. We can work with them with pride in terms of getting ready for USSA,’’ said Mavundla.
While Ayajabula Mthethwa, Durban campus basketball female coach and captain could not contain her excitement and said that she was very proud of her players.
“We have worked very hard in preparing for this tournament. We have made ourselves proud and most of the players were beginners. I am proud of them, we did well,’’ said Mthethwa.
Celebrating Durban’s win was also rugby female team coach, Musa Mvelase, who said that the victory proves that they prepared well and worked very hard.
“To be honest they surprised me because many of them are beginners. They outdid themselves. We worked hard and it showed through the results we got. We played well in terms of attacking and we stuck to the game plan which gave us a win,’’ said Musa.
Articulating on the turnout of the event, DUT Sports Union Chairperson, Thalente Hadebe said seeing a high number of first-year participants showed that the future was bright in DUT sports.
“We appreciate students for participating in the Fresher’s Cup, it means a lot. This year all the teams have a high number of first- years and that says a lot about our unit. We have managed to recruit more first-years in all our teams which means the future is bright in sport. Their dedication has raised the bar in terms of the competition, and we are hoping we will get more first-year athletes in coming years,’’ said Hadebe.
Pictured: The Durban campus team lifting their 2024 Fresher’s Cup at the Fred Crookes Sport Centre, Steve Biko campus.
Vukani Langa, Thubelihle Dumakude
