{"id":174,"date":"2021-01-12T09:26:35","date_gmt":"2021-01-12T09:26:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/networklivenews.com\/?p=174"},"modified":"2021-01-12T09:26:36","modified_gmt":"2021-01-12T09:26:36","slug":"how-south-african-sports-grew-in-2020","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/networklivenews.com\/?p=174","title":{"rendered":"HOW SOUTH AFRICAN SPORTS GREW IN 2020"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Article by: Dineo Pearl Modise (Journalist) <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Leagues,\ntournaments, and the biggest sporting events were forced to pause due to the\nglobal coronavirus pandemic and what began as a year of hope and prospective\ngrowth, resulted in a year of survival. Here are the biggest sporting moments\nthat occurred in 2020:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Women\u2019s Cricket:<\/strong><br>\nDuring March, Cricket South Africa\u2019s Proteas Women\u2019s team made it to the\nsemi-finals of the T20 World Cup after an exciting group stage triumph over\nfavourites England showing great progress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Momentum Proteas captain, Dan\u00e9 van\nNiekerk, and star all-rounder, Marizanne Kapp, have been named in the ICC\nWomen\u2019s ODI Team of the Decade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Motorsport\u2019s:<\/strong><strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As South Africans were celebrating\nNational Women\u2019s Day on the 9<sup>th<\/sup> of August the country was were given\nanother reason to celebrate the day when Brad Binder became the first South\nAfrican to win a MotoGP World Championship race and the first rookie to do so\nsince 2013, when he won the Czech Grand Prix at Brno. This was Binders first season\ncompeting in the MotoGP circuit and was also named 2020 MotoGP rookie of the\nyear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Women\u2019s Football:<\/strong><strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Banyana Banyana\u2019s rankings have moved to 53rd in\nthe world and third on the continent on FIFA Rankings. This serves as a\nreflection of the progress that South African women\u2019s football is making.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Another progressive moment was celebrated in 2020 when\nMamelodi Sundowns were crowned the first SAFA Women\u2019s National League Champions\nwith TUT as runners up and Bloemfontein Celtics\nthird placed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Mamelodi Sundowns and Banyana Banyana goalkeeper\nand captain Andile Dlamini was awarded Goalkeeper of the Season. TUT Striker, Hilda Magaia who assisted Banyana Banyana in winning\ntheir fourth COSAFA Cup in a row, was awarded Player of the Season. Magaia and Rhoda Mulaudzi were both awarded the top\ngoal scorer of the season award with 36 goals each while Celtics and U17 Women\u2019s\nNational Team player, Kananelo Taiwe scooped the Young Player of the Season\naward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Banyana Banyana International\nstriker Ode Fulutudilu signed with SWPL 1 reigning Champions, Glasgow City FC.\nShe joined the Scottish side from Finnish side, Aland United where she helped them\nlift the League and Cup becoming Champions for the first time in seven years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Men\u2019s Football:<\/strong><strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Orlando Pirates halted their trophy less\nrun and claimed the 2020 MTN 8 as their first silverware in 6 years under the\nwing of Coach Josef Zinnbauer who delivered a long-awaited trophy in his first\nfull year in charge of the team<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Mamelodi Sundowns sealed their first ever\ntreble of the Telkom Knockout, Nedbank Cup and League Title under the wing of Coach\nPitso Mosimane who has broken many records in 2020: becoming the coach with the\nmost league titles in PSL, the first black coach to manage a Northern African\nteam in Al Ahly, winning a treble with Mamelodi Sundowns while completing the\ntreble with Al Ahly in his first 3 months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>First Female Gamer to Win SA National Board Games\nChampionship<\/strong><strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Mind Sports South Africa (MSSA) agreed to host the SA National\nChampionships for Morabaraba in December 2020 while South Africa has been in\nthe grip of COVID-19 at a venue that could accommodate all entries and all the\nstate\u2019s regulations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Saudah Bhaimia (Curro Klerksdorp), completely dominated the field\nfor the third time in a row at the South African National Board Games\nChampionships,&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She won the 2018 and 2019 South African National Championships and went\non to win her third consecutive national title, making her the first female\ngamer in South Africa to do so in the Morabaraba game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Tatjana Schoenmaker dominates swimming Headlines<\/strong><strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>South Africa\u2019s swim sensation, Tatjana\nSchoenmaker, continues to break records since the return of the sport, breaking\nanother African record at the NTS Championships in December, swimming to the\nfinish line in a time of 30:52. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In September, Schoenmaker&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/gsport.co.za\/swim-champion-tatjana-schoenmaker-breaks-sa-continental-record\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">broke the 200m breaststroke record which was set by Suzaan\nvan Biljon<\/a>&nbsp;12 years ago, in a\ntime of&nbsp;2min 18.20sec at the South African Shortcourse Championships <strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Fabienne Lanz Crowned KZ2 Champion<\/strong><strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Fabienne Lanz ended 2020 in style by overturning\nan 8-point shortfall to be crowned KZ2 champion at the ROK Cup South Africa\nNational Championships, at the Zwartkops International Kart Circuit. Lanz\nfinished second on the day of the race and overtook multiple SA Karting\nchampion and championship leader, Bradley Liebenberg, for the title.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Article by: Dineo Pearl Modise (Journalist) Leagues, tournaments, and the biggest sporting events were forced to pause due to the global coronavirus pandemic and what began as a year of hope and prospective growth, resulted in a year of survival. Here are the biggest sporting moments that occurred in 2020: Women\u2019s Cricket: During March, Cricket [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>HOW SOUTH AFRICAN SPORTS GREW IN 2020 - Network Live News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/networklivenews.com\/?p=174\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"HOW SOUTH AFRICAN SPORTS GREW IN 2020 - Network Live News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Article by: Dineo Pearl Modise (Journalist) Leagues, tournaments, and the biggest sporting events were forced to pause due to the global coronavirus pandemic and what began as a year of hope and prospective growth, resulted in a year of survival. 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