Fort Hare are on a mission to smash and grab more silverware at this year’s USSA championships after stunning South Africa’s table tennis community 12 months ago.
They went into the 2023 tournament with the intention of giving several untested players game time in a competitive environment but ended up winning the bronze medal.
What made their achievement more extraordinary was that they were not even able to field a full team the previous year.
The outcome was largely thanks to the women, who accumulated enough points in their matches to secure third overall for the team.
As table tennis ace Azikile Makaula had anticipated, the result was the shot in the arm needed to raise the profile of the sport at the institution.
This year, the 14-member side competing in Cape Town from December 2 to 6 include players who know their way around the table.
Akhona Madyibi and Ntokozo Jali both returned to the sport after several years on the sidelines to pick up where they had left off as talented youngsters.
Their presence has raised the bar for the rest of the squad, who comprises two women’s teams of four players each and two men’s teams of three.
Myolisi Mfo is part of the Fort Hare continent who will make their way to Cape Town for the USSA table tennis championships. Photo: Full Stop Communications
Makaula is impressed by the dedication shown by her troops since arriving in camp on November 18.
She is also convinced there is enough talent in the group to bag more medals, perhaps even silver.
“We have been practising every day since the 19th [of November],” she said.
“This year has already been much better than last in terms of our preparation. We have a good team.”
She felt Madyibi and Jali, whose respective nicknames are “Mighty” and “Ghost”, would be the ones to watch at the USSAs.
Since they had played the game competitively before, there were only “small things to fix here and there” in terms of their skillset and strategic play.
Having the pair in the squad had also raised her own game, Makaula said.
Where before she was more like an educator teaching children, she could now assess herself against teammates who were ultra-competitive.
Makaula has become something of campus legend in Alice for effectively building the table tennis programme and team from scratch.
She hopes to make it a triumphant return to Cape Town, as it was there that she had captured the bronze medal in the doubles at the nationals last year.
She expects Fort Hare’s greatest challenge in the Mother City to come from the likes of CPUT and UFS.
It was in fact the former who prevented them from placing higher on the podium in 2023.
While they would keep an eye on the progress of these two universities, their main focus would be on their own game, she said.
If all goes according to plan, they will celebrate all the way home as they did after winning their shock medal a year ago.