LIA BACK IN ACTION AT TUKS

MBABANE – Just as the Equestrian Federation of Eswatini (EFE) President, Glenda Warburton, had said about two months ago, Lia van Wyk is back in action.

The Eswatini’s elite rider is currently enrolled at the University of Pretoria commonly called TUKS. Just like Eswatini, there have been no activities for van Wyk at the South African university due to the surge in COVID-19 deaths and infections. Before the start of this month, championships, tournaments and inter-school sport matches that require learners to travel to other schools or provinces, according to the basic education department gazette on the new regulations, may also resume without spectators provided that public schools are subject to compliance with the regulation for safety measures in public schools. School sport matches including provincial and national school sport tournaments may resume, but without spectators and with various Covid-19 controls in place.

Other activities including physical education, extra-curricular activities and interschool, district, provincial and national school sport tournaments also received the go ahead. Meanwhile, Lia is not new to South African equestrian competitions as she has been a regular at the SANESA games in 2018 and 2019 while she rode as a junior on Catch my Drift. Sharing her best achievement for the year 2018, the then young rider said besides holding the National title for Dressage and Jumping in Eswatini, her best achievement was when she went to represent Mpumalanga in the SANESA nationals.

achievement

“This helped me achieve an 8th placing out of South Africa’s top 33 riders at the 1m level in the competition class. This achievement means a lot to me as showjumping is not my strongest discipline and the competition was the biggest I have ever ridden in,” she said. Lia then advised young people who wished to join equestrian to first find an instructor who had their best interests at heart. “They will help you improve your skill.  Next is to find a horse you trust and are compatible with, as a dishonest horse can seriously damage your confidence and will be detrimental to you as a rider,” she said.  

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