The Durban University of Technology (DUT) Netball team, The Hurricanes, brought home the silver medal from the 2018 University Sport South Africa (USSA) tournament, which was held at the University of Johannesburg early last month.

The Hurricanes played a total of seven matches, facing opponents such as Varsity College and the Central University of Technology.

DUT Netball coach, Lungani Ndlovu, expressed his excitement and applauded the team’s effort during the tournament.

“I don’t think there are perfect words that I can use to express my happiness. I’m overwhelmed and proud of the way the girls performed, they showed a lot of commitment and team work. We had to deliver after the full support that we got from our sport coordinator and team manager, we couldn’t afford to disappoint, so I’m happy we came back with something,” said Ndlovu.

The Hurricanes Captain, Sandisiwe Mpetsheni, stated that even though there were a few tough matches, she is happy that her team emerged victorious.

“My team’s overall performance was decent, beautiful and delightful. Bringing back the silver medal shows that my team is dedicated, driven and we want to become the greatest team,” said Mpetsheni.

The tournament had a variety of over thirty different competitive sporting codes that universities around the country were invited to participate in.

Team manager, Pamela Magubane says tournaments such as USSA, give players an opportunity to be scouted. “Playing in local leagues is great preparation for tournaments such as USSA. At such a tournament players have the chance to be discovered by bigger teams for the provinces or the country,” said Magubane.

DUT Sports Administration Manager, Bongani Yengwa, stated that he is very pleased with the results and how the DUT Sports Department performed at the tournament.

“I’m happy with the general performance of the teams and it’s a great improvement from last year. Some of the sporting codes that did well are Boxing and Table tennis. These two codes were competing for the very first time this year,” said Yengwa.

Pictured : 2018 DUT Netball Team , “The Hurricanes”

Thembela Makhuba