USSA News USSA announces World Student Games Squad PRETORIA - A press conference to announce the 30th Summer Universiade South African student’s Team was held earlier today, 30 May 2019, at the National Lotteries Commission (NLC) in Pretoria. The conference room was packed to capacity and the mood pleasant and optimistic. Among the guests, were several student-athletes who will be taking part in the games. The proceedings of the press conference commenced with the singing of the National Anthem, followed by a welcoming of guests by an NLC representative. The University Sport South Africa (USSA) President, Mrs. IlhaamGroenewald, did the honours of announcing Team SA. She gave an encouraging talk to the athletes, giving them full honour. She set the target of medals at eight for this year’s World Student Games. She also highlighted that the team needs to bring home two gold medals since this improves a country’s world rankings significantly. Acceptance of the team was done by the USSA Head of Delegation (HOD) Mr. MandlaGagayi. He also gave encouraging words to the student-athletes and urged them to learn from the experiences they will gain in Italy. He said that they should also create networks and friendships at the games because these will be of great benefit in the future, when they’ve all retired from their sporting careers. Next on the programme were the Remarks by Mr. Nxakula the Chairperson at the NLC, on behalf of the Commissioner, Mrs. ThabangMampane. Mr. Nxakula also gave words of encouragement to the student-athletes and advised them to believe in themselves and represent the country with good conduct and professionalism. Videos of the Games and messages of good luck from former Universiade athletes were screened. A Vote of Thanks was conducted by the USSA CFMO, Mr. ShadrackNthangeni, who thanked the NLC for the generous contribution to USSA over the years, members of the media for their unwavering support and coverage of USSA, the NEC of USSA and GDM of TeamSA. The student-athletes were again encouraged to perform to the best of their abilities and to learn from their experiences in order to bring good leadership back home since they are the future leaders. The Programme Director, Ms. Amanda Dlamini, former two time Universiade footballer and captain, former BanyanaBanyana captain and current SuperSport analyst, gave an outstanding address. Her experience from previous Games resonated with everyone present. She reminded the athletes that above all, they should always remember to enjoy what they do and not get swayed by the seriousness of the daily regimens. Among the esteemed guests was Mr. Stefano Ligrone, Ambassador from the Italian Embassy in South Africa who has assisted the delegation immensely for a logistical point of view. The USSA family thanks him for his outstanding work in assisting with visa applications and all other necessities relating to the Games. Find the squad lists for TeamSA here. Posted by Vusi Zwane on 2019-05-31. Source: