Soccer ace off to South Korea

ZULULAND’S soccer maestro Lindokuhle ‘Vonk’ Mthembu is expected to jet off to South Korea in July after he was selected as part of the inter-varsity national team to represent the country at the 2015 World Varsity Games.

The 24-year-old University of Zululand (Unizulu) goalkeeper and Development Studies Honours student, who also plies his trade at Thanda Royal Zulu Football Club, said he was very excited about the selection and also revealed that he is the only player in the squad to come from a KZN university.

Lindokuhle’s selection came after his participation in the national selection camp held in Bloemfontein at the weekend.

The camp saw dozens of selected players from various South African universities try out for places in the Senior and the Under 21 University Sport South Africa (USSA) national teams.

Boasting a promising future, last year Lindokuhle was honoured as USSA Goalkeeper of the Year following the inter-varsity tournament, where the Unizulu soccer team was runner-up.

Three other players from Unizulu had been selected to take part in the camp.

Senzo Myeni and Siphesihle Ndaba were selected as standby members of the senior and U21 teams respectively.

This means they would be on call as replacements should any of the selected players not be able to make it.

Thobelani Ndaba, who tried out for the U21 team, expressed his disappointment at not making it into the national team, but said the experience had been an eye-opener for him.

‘It is every player’s dream to represent his country and so I was a bit disappointed at not being selected, but it was also a good experience.

‘Once there, I got exposed to coaches and other styles of playing, so it was good learning curve.’ Thobelani said.