REGION V: TAEKWONDO’S ‘GOLDEN 5’ FOR E40K

MBABANE – Team Eswatini keeps on shining in the ongoing African Union Sports Council (AUSC) Region 5 Under-20 Youth Games.

This is courtesy of the five Taekwondo artists in the team as they all did exceptionally well by winning gold medals. The floodgates were opened by Gcinumuzi Nxumalo and the rest of the team just kept going for the gold and successfully got it. The other heroes are Sihlelelwe Matsebula, Sivunwesihle Dlamini, Aphiwe Dlamini and Hlelo Vilakati who won their fights with ease and got gold medals for the country.  

The five heroes, according to the Ministry of Sports, Culture and Youth Affairs policy brought about through the Eswatini Sports and Recreation Council (ESRC), rewards outstanding international performance for athletes and they have earned themselves E40 000. Each gold medal is worth E8 000 while silver and bronze are worth E6 000 and E5 000 respectively.

After Nxumalo’s win their coach Manqoba Motsa was not disappointed throughout as he escorted his artists to the podium for the main prize – gold medals and five of them. Sihlelelwe won his fight after beating an opponent from the host nation, Malawi in the finals of the Under-55kg category, while Aphiwe won her fight in the Under-49 kg division, Sivunwesihle didn’t disappoint either in the Under-55kg category as both ladies won their fights with ease.

The last to fight yesterday around lunch time was 15-year-old Hlelo Vilakati, who was now motivated to the thrill and simply lived up to the challenge as she defeated her opponent from Zambia in the final to earn Eswatini a fifth gold medal. Meanwhile, Gcinumuzi became the first liSwati to win gold in this year’s edition of the youth games held in Lilongwe, Malawi. Athletics Eswatini (AE) Public Relations Officer (PRO) Victor ‘Mavikane’ Dlamini, said they were proud of the achievement by the Taekwondo stars.

Proud

“We are very proud of the karate athletes as they have made the nation proud. It has been a good start for the country and we hope we will have more athletes winning medals,” he said. Mavikane further said yesterday was the end of the taekwondo games and encouraged the nation to continue praying for the athletes as they embark on getting more medals.Today also marks the first day of swimming and Team Eswatini has Hayley Hoy and Danien De Sousa, who will also be looking to replicate the brilliant start done by the taekwondo athletes.

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