{"id":121322,"date":"2018-08-22T06:34:53","date_gmt":"2018-08-22T04:34:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/champs-medal-major-highlight-for-uj-rower\/"},"modified":"2018-08-22T06:34:53","modified_gmt":"2018-08-22T04:34:53","slug":"champs-medal-major-highlight-for-uj-rower","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/champs-medal-major-highlight-for-uj-rower\/","title":{"rendered":"Champs medal major highlight for UJ rower"},"content":{"rendered":"

Champs medal major highlight for UJ rower<\/a>: <\/p>\n

Champs medal major highlight for UJ rower:<\/strong> <\/p>\n

\"Mzwandile<\/p>\n

Mzwandile Sotsaka (left) and Brad Betts, of Rhodes, celebrate their bronze medal in the heavyweight doubles rowing event at the FISU World University Championships in Shanghai, China, this month. Photo: Supplied<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

University of Johannesburg student Mzwandile Sotsaka achieved the greatest moment of his rowing career thus far when he claimed a bronze medal at the FISU World University Championships in China this month.<\/p>\n

Competing in the searing heat of Shanghai, Sotsaka and partner Brad Betts took third place in the gruelling heavyweight men’s doubles race.<\/p>\n

The 22-year-old Sotsaka, who is in his final year of a BSc maths degree, said the medal was reward for the hard work they had put in this year.<\/p>\n

“Excitement was definitely the dominant feeling once we had crossed the finish line,” he said.<\/p>\n

“After a tough season of training, winning a medal shows that it was all worth it.”<\/p>\n

He added it had been “without a doubt my proudest achievement”.<\/p>\n

“Standing on the podium of a world event is every sportsman’s dream and I am privileged enough to have done it.”<\/p>\n

Sotsaka, from Hatfield in Pretoria, said it was often difficult to know what to expect going into an event such as the FISU World University Rowing Championships.<\/p>\n

“Some years you find yourself up against some very experienced senior crews, and other years you’ll race against top-end U23 rowers.<\/p>\n

“I was expecting high-calibre competition and that was exactly what we got. Fortunately, we were well prepared for the racing.”<\/p>\n

He added that there were several hurdles to surmount on an occasion such as this, not least of them getting used to different meal options.<\/p>\n

“However the heat and humidity was certainly the biggest challenge.<\/p>\n

“I had to constantly ensure I was well hydrated, otherwise it would have been really tough to compete at a high level.”<\/p>\n

The UJ rower said his partnership with Betts, of Rhodes, was a crucial part of their success.<\/p>\n

“Brad is an extremely intelligent person, both on and off the water, and he and I clicked immediately when we were paired together in the double.<\/p>\n

“Having him as my bowman [the rower closest to the bow who controls the boat] brought me great confidence.<\/p>\n

“He is sure of himself and always made the right calls to get the boat going quicker, which is why he has been so successful at rowing.”<\/p>\n

Sotsaka, who grew up in Watermeyer in Pretoria, said he was influenced to take up rowing by his older brother.<\/p>\n

“Katlego, who has always been a great mentor for me, started rowing at school around 2008 and he convinced me to join him,” he said.<\/p>\n

“I decided to go ahead with it and it has been one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.”<\/p>\n

He added that he had had many mentors who had helped him succeed in rowing, but paid a special tribute to Mpumi Geza.<\/p>\n

“I will always be indebted to Mpumi, who coached me to my first international medal – he is the unsung hero in South African rowing.<\/p>\n

“I’d like to add that I am really grateful for all the support UJ have provided over the years. I would not have been able to do it without them.”<\/p>\n

The next step, Sotsaka said, was to try to break into the senior national team.<\/p>\n

“In the long-term, the goal is to qualify for the Olympic Games and perhaps box for a medal there, too.”<\/p>\n

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Champs medal major highlight for UJ rower: Champs medal major highlight for UJ rower: Mzwandile Sotsaka (left) and Brad Betts, of Rhodes, celebrate their bronze medal in the heavyweight doubles rowing event at the FISU World University Championships in Shanghai, China, this month. Photo: Supplied University of Johannesburg student Mzwandile Sotsaka achieved the greatest moment […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3332],"tags":[6229,3672,4565,18874,31991],"class_list":{"0":"post-121322","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-johannesburg-south-africa","7":"tag-champs","8":"tag-highlight","9":"tag-major","10":"tag-medal","11":"tag-rower","12":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121322","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=121322"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121322\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=121322"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=121322"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=121322"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}