Tandi Cunningham
Golfer
Tel: +27 82 991 0110
This 22-year-old emerging star beat a classy field to win the SA Open at Parkview Golf Club early this year in only her third appearance as a professional.
One of the straightest hitters on tour, she has good distance and good recovery to back her up in tough situations. The SA Open was Cunningham’s first victory.
She has now set her sights on Europe, where she hopes to make a similar impact. She has attained playing privileges on the European and Asian Masters tour for the 2009 season.
Natalie du Toit
Swimmer
Tel: +27 11 465 4447/57
www.nataliedutoit.co.za
Natalie du Toit is remembered around the world as the athlete who carried the South African flag at the opening of the Olympic Games in Beijing last year.
Du Toit, whose left leg was amputated below the knee in 2001 after a scooter accident, was the first amputee in more than a century to compete in the regular Olympics and the first female amputee swimmer to compete in both the Olympics and the Paralympics.
In the former, she swam the 10km open water race, finishing 16th in a field of 24. She went on to win gold medals in the Paralympics for all five of the events she entered – the 100m butterfly, 200m individual medley, 50m freestyle, 100m freestyle, and 400m freestyle.
Her achievements won her the Whang Youn Dai Achievement Award, given to the most outstanding paralympian. She is also an accomplished motivational speaker.
Zodwa Maphanga
Table Tennis Player
Tel: + 27 12 431 3700
Recognised by the South African Table Tennis Board as a player with immense potential, Zodwa Maphanga has been playing table tennis since she was 12 years old. If she continues to progress she should qualify for the Olympic Games in London in 2012.
The Africa silver and bronze medallist participated in various tournaments in 2008 including the African Seniors Cup in Congo Brazzaville, the Commonwealth Youth Games and the ninth All Africa Games.
Mentored by world marathon record holder and G4S 4teen Ambassador Haile Gebrselassie, 18-year-old Zodwa has participated for the past three years in the G4S 4teen programme for young athletes with the potential to qualify for the Olympics.
Alice Noko Matlou
Footballer
Tel: +27 79 168 9733
Easily the most decorated South African footballer, ahead of her highearning male counterparts who play in the richest leagues of the world, Matlou was crowned African Footballer of the Year earlier this year. South African players like Benni McCarthy and Portia Modise have been nominated for the prestigious award but she was the first South African to win it, alongside Togo star Emmanuel Adebayor, at a glittering ceremony in Lagos.
The award recognised her huge impact at the 2008 Africa Women’s Championships in Equatorial Guinea, where she finished joint top scorer, with six goals.
The Banyana Banyana star’s breath-taking talents were also on show at last year’s Cosafa tournament where she scored an incredible 12 goals in five matches, including a hat trick in the final, which was won by South Africa. In that competition Matlou was voted Player of the Match three times as well as Player of the Tournament.
Kgothatso Montjane
Wheelchair Tennis Player
Tel: + 27 82 343 8436
The 22-year-old from Seshego in Limpopo is an amazing wheelchair tennis player. Among other successes she made a clean sweep of all the tournaments in the country between 2005 and 2006.
Montjane, whose leg was amputated in 1999 because of an infection at birth, is currently ranked number one in the country and number 50 in the world. Her solid and accurate shots and scintillating speed on the court makes wheelchair tennis look easy to play, which it certainly is not.
She is physically strong, can move her wheelchair far better than any other local female opponents and is very tactical. Last year she earned herself a wild card for the 2008 Paralympics in Beijing.
Ashleigh Simon
Golfer
Tel: +27 11 789 5155
Twenty-year-old Asheilgh Simon, who won her first Ladies Club Championship at the age of 12 at Royal Johannesburg Kensington Golf Club in 2001 and went on to win it for four years in a row, is by far South Africa’s best female golfer.
In the same year she won the Junior Club Championships, the Top 16 Knock Out and the Singles Knock Out and has since gone on to win these events more than once. She was the youngest player to win the Ladies South African Amateur Stroke Play and Match Play double and the first player in 101 years to win the Ladies South African Open title three times.
Simon, who turned professional at the age of 18, won the 2007 Catalonia Ladies Masters, her third event as a professional, becoming the youngest ever professional winner on the Ladies European Tour. She also won the Champion of Champions Tournament in 2002, 2003 and 2004.