Nkosenhle Sibisi

Sports stars were honoured at the 14^th South African Sports Awards on Sunday evening at The Playhouse Company in Durban.

These awards are the partnership between the Department of Sport and Recreation, SABC and the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic committee.

Some of this year’s categories were: Sportsman of the Year, Sportsman of the Year with Disability, Sportswoman of the Year with Disability, Team of the Year, Newcomer of the Year, Coach of the Year, Indigenous Games Team of the Year, Photographer of the Year, Sports Journalist of the Year, and The People’s Choice of the Year.

SA’s netball national team, Spar Proteas that recently won the Africa Netball Cup, walked away with the Team of the Year and Federation of the Year awards.

captain of the Spar Proteas, Bongiwe Msomi said that as the team they are very happy for this achievement after a few years of struggling.

“This award means a lot to us, not only as the Spar Proteas but the whole netball family. This is big, I think a few years ago we have been really struggling to penetrate through to whatever that we were trying to achieve. Recently, everything seems to be going very well and according to the plan,” said Msomi.

During the event, rugby national team, Springboks were honoured when Captain Siyamthanda Kolisi won the People’s Choice of The Year award and the coach Rassie Erasmus was crowned the coach of the year.

Springboks coach, Rassie Erasmus was crowned with the Coach of the Year award. He said that this is the biggest moment for the country’s rugby team.

“We are grateful for the support we have been receiving from the people of South Africa. We believe that we have made the country proud of us and it is amazing to see how sports can bring positivity and unity among South Africans,” said Erasmus.

Another team that bagged a second award for the Indigenous Games Team of the Year category in just a period of two months is the KwaZulu-Natal Khokho team.

KZN Khokho team’s coach Zwelethu Tshabalala, said that this win shows that indigenous games are showing growth and gaining recognition.

“Winning at the SA Sports Awards is a huge achievement to us, because two years back the team wasn’t doing so well, last year we gained the form, positivity and won gold. This proves that there is growth and as coaches we keep instilling the culture of people believing in themselves,” said Tshabalala.

Pictures: Gallo Images and Netball SA