Notwithstanding the devastation of the April Floods in KZN, the newly elected
President of KZN Volleyball, Aadil Khan and his executive were steadfast in
delivering on their promise to host a classy Champions Cup, VSA’s flagship national
inter club championship for both genders.
With securing a four court venue to host the annual event posing a problem Khan
presented VSA an alternate of staging the event in two separate venues, one at
UKZN’s Howard College Campus Sports Hall and the other at the Tongaat Indoor
Sports Centre that was one of one the ‘’victims’’ of the April Floods.
Khan and his team of workers set in motion a plan to restore the Tongaat Indoor
Sports venue to its original playing condition which was achieved within two weeks.
Although Tongaat was dubbed as the ‘’town without water’’ as a result of the water
infrastructure being severely damaged by the floods ,the KZN Volleyball President
took it upon himself to engage with the eThekwini Municipality to commence with the
clean-up process and regularly supply water to jojo tanks Khan had installed to
complete the functionality of the Tongaat venue that the ‘prophets of doom’’ wrote off
as an unplayable venue for months to come.
“When things were looking bleak our resilience ‘kicked in’ when we decided to make
every effort to host the national event in KZN as a ‘’ tournament of hope’ for the
sports loving people of our province,’’ said Khan.
VSA President, Anthony Mokoena was full of praise for the gallant efforts made by
KZN as the host province in insuring that the prestigious event remains in their
province as the Limpopo Province and Gauteng were willing to stage the national
event.
“While there were calls to move the tournament from KZN citing safety of the visiting
teams and serious water problems especially at the Tongaat venue we pledged our
support to KZN which is one of our best administered volleyball playing provinces in
the country to host the national event,’’ said the VSA President.
The 24 team (11 women and 13 men) draw is set to kick off on Monday, 9 May with
the finals being played at the Tongaat Indoor Sports Centre on Friday, 13 May.
The women’s round robin matches will be played at UKZN’s Howard College Sports
Hall on Monday and Tuesday. Thereafter the women will join their male counterparts
to continue with their matches at the Tongaat Sports Centre.
According to the VSA office staff dignitaries from the National Department of Sports,
Arts and Culture (DSAC); KZN DSAC, SASCOC, KZN Sports Confederation,
community leaders and captains of industry are invited to grace the event.
The KZN Volleyball President has committed to make this year’s Champions Cup an
unforgettable experience for both players and the spectators. Apart from witnessing
action packed volleyball, spectators can look forward to musical entertainment, free
energy drinks sponsored by Hype Energy Drinks and ‘goodies’ thrown into the crowd
by the teams participating in the women and men’s finals.
In addition, the top 3 teams in the women and men’s finals will receive prize money.
There is no admission charge for spectators at both venues for the Champions Cup.
DONOVAN NAIR
VSA Secretary-General