Razwimisani School the world champions

The Tshilwavhusiku Razwimisani Special School became the pride of the country after they won the world championship in floor hockey.

Their team represented South Africa at this year's Special Olympics World Winter games, which took place from 14 to 25 March in Austria.

The team beat Mexico 5-0 and then lost 2-4 to the Ukraine. They then beat Japan 2-0, but lost 0-7 against Canada. In the round robin matches, they lost 4-5 to Canada, won 6-0 against Mexico, and lost 1-2 to the Ukraine. With their performances, they were awarded a place in the finals and then beat Canada 3-0.

The coach of the team, Ms Moronwa Petlo, said that she was glad that they had brought home the gold medals. “This is exactly what we promised our province and country before we left for Austria,” she said. “Today we call upon the country to share in this joy with us. This is one of the many victories our team is still going to achieve.”

Limpopo MEC for the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture Ms Onica Moloi congratulated the team and said that the department would provide all the required assistance to ensure that the team reached the optimal heights of achievement. “The province is happy with what our team achieved,” Moloi said. “We are going to support them as the department to make sure that they achieve more and make us proud as a province and country.”

The CEO for the Special Olympics South Africa, Ms Ancilla Smith, added that the victory was the third consecutive win by the team from Limpopo at the Special Olympics World Winter games. “We are thrilled that the ministry of sport and recreation is recognising this achievement with a commitment to providing better facilities for our athletes to utilise for training purposes,” she said.

The principal of the Tshilwavhusiku Razwimisani Special School, Ms  Roseline Ramutshila, applauded the team and added that, apart from the victory being a cause for national celebration, the fact that the team had won would also encourage more pupils in other sporting disciplines to work harder.

The Makhado Municipality also welcomed the victors at the OR Tambo International Airport on their arrival on Sunday. “The team had put the Makhado Municipality on the map, and we feel proud of the team for representing us well in Austria,” said the mayor, Cllr Shonisani Sinyosi.

Date:01 April 2017

By: Tshifhiwa Mukwevho

Tshifhiwa Given Mukwevho was born in 1984 in Madombidzha village, not far from Louis Trichardt in the Limpopo Province. After submitting articles for roughly a year for Limpopo Mirror's youth supplement, Makoya, he started writing for the main newspaper. He is a prolific writer who published his first book, titled A Traumatic Revenge in 2011. It focusses on life on the street and how to survive amidst poverty. His second book titled The Violent Gestures of Life was published in 2014.

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