Highly rated sports competitions around the world are in full swing for the 2022 sporting season and South Africa is among the top competitors, with University of Johannesburg (UJ) student-athletes adding to Team SA squads.
Between July and August 2022, three major tournaments will be taking place in the United States, England and Colombia. These include the World Athletics Championships that commence on 15 July 2022 in Eugene, Oregon, United States, ending on 24 July 2022. In this competition, UJ’s three athletes & coach have added to Team SA ‘strength. These are Werner Visser (discus throw), Cheswill Johnson (long Jump), Ryan Mphahlele (1500mm), and Sipho Michael Seme (long distance coach).
“We are proud of our athletes. They have consistently been selected to represent South Africa in international sporting events and it is evident that UJ adds to the fibre of the South African sports development and excellence. We wish them well in the various competitions and believe that they will bring home medals like they did recently,” says Roger Haitengi, Manager and Coach: UJ Athletics Club.
The biggest of the three competitions is the Commonwealth Games which will take place in Birmingham, England (29 July to 8 August 2022). In this spectacle, three UJ student-athletes and one coach will represent Team SA. They include Cheswell Johnson (long Jump), Ryan Mphahlele (1500m), Pierre Blignaut (throw coach), and Kristen Paton (Hockey).
In early August (1 to 6 August 2022), Lythe Pillay (400m) will represent Mzansi in the World Athletics Under-20 Championship which will be held in Cali, Colombia.
Visser, Johnson, and Mphahlele recently won medals (1 gold and three silver) for Team SA in the CAA Senior African Championships in Mauritius in June 2022. Paton was part of the SA hockey team that won the Hockey AFCON tournament in Ghana in January 2022.
