African University Games kick off in Joburg and Tshwane

27 June 2016

 

Sports personalities from across Africa and the diaspora descended on the Soweto campus of the University of Johannesburg on Sunday June 26 for the official opening of the eighth edition of the Federation of African University Sports (FASU) Games.

 

The biennial games, which run from Monday June 27 to Saturday July 2, are being hosted by the City of Johannesburg in partnership with the City of Tshwane, University of Johannesburg and the Tshwane University of Technology.

This is the second time the games are held in South Africa since their inception 15 years ago. The first time was in Tshwane in 2006.

Speaking on behalf the City of Johannesburg’s Member of the Mayoral Committee for Community Development, Cllr Chris Vondo, who could not attend because of other pressing matters, the department’s Mbulelo Bezu said sport and education continued to break down political, social, cultural and economic barriers and contribute to solving some of the most intractable challenges of our world.

“We commend every single student who will be participating in the FASU Games for their continued pursuit of excellence, both on and off the field, and for being cognisant of the value and importance of both.”

The vision of FASU can be traced to as far back as 1951 when, in a quest to foster brotherhood and positive competition, two West African universities – the University of Ghana and the University of Ibadan in Nigeria – started a bilateral annual sporting competition.

FASU President Dr Michael Ralethe said: “When sport meets education, you are guaranteed that the youth of our continent will develop within the ambit of excellence in body and mind.

“As we gather for this eighth FASU Games with a scientific conference, one can only express the pleasure of our organisation to have you all here.”

The seventh edition of the FASU Games was held in Nairobi, Kenya, in 2014.

The games feature top eight sporting codes – athletics, badminton, basketball, chess, football, netball, tennis and volleyball. Forty-five universities from 13 countries on the continent are taking part in the games.

The participating universities come from countries such as Zimbabwe, Zambia, Ghana, Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Egypt, Botswana, Ivory Coast, Morocco and Djibouti.