The Durban University of Technology (DUT) will host its annual Sports Awards on Friday, 26 October at the Elangeni Hotel in Durban.

Held since 2013, the annual awards aim to celebrate sporting excellence by recognising the finest sporting individuals who excelled in their sporting codes for a period of a year.

The award categories of the day will include the following categories; Sportsperson of the Year, Player of the Year (men), Player of the Year (women), Team of the Year, Coach of the Year, Most promising player of the Year, Administrator of the Year, Club of the year and Head of Department Special Recognition Award.

“These awards are based on individuals who have performed well since the start of the year, until now. Apart from the categories that we have, we will also award athletes who were selected for both provincial and national teams,” said Bongani Yengwa, DUT’s Sports Administration Manager.

With exactly 24 Sporting Codes in their department, Yengwa also revealed that the awards are going to be competitive since most teams performed beyond expectations.

“For the first time, we had boxing and they performed well in their tournaments. There is also one promising boxer, Zandile Ndaba who is doing well.  We also have Aerobics and they participated in the National Championships for the first time. Our Tennis team participated for the first time in the USSA Championships and they received bronze medals.

Additionally, we have sailing that is doing well, even though they are still going to the USSA National Champs in December. Our football team has two teams, one is playing in the SAB League and the other is playing on the Local Premiership. Even more, we have Chess which is growing rapidly,” added Yengwa.

After signing the Varsity Sports agreement earlier this year, Yengwa further said they are on track to put DUT on a different level in terms of sports.

“Basically, if we qualify, we can now play in Varsity sports competitions. I will like to thank the management for this achievement which I believe is a step in the right direction,” added Yengwa.

Pictured: Retired Banyana Banyana Striker, Amanda Dlamini with DUT Sports Administration Manager, Bongani Yengwa during the DUT Sports Awards in 2016.

Sandile Lukhozi