Tennis South Africa’s Development Manager Mpho Makhoba was the big winner this weekend scooping two awards at the 13th annual gsport Awards on Friday evening at the Wanderers Club in Illovo and one accolade at the Gauteng Sports Awards held at the Silverstar Casino in Mogale City on Sunday.
The gsport awards recognize and celebrate dedicated and record-breaking efforts of women in the country in various sporting codes.
Makhoba took home two awards, Volunteer of the Year and Special Recognition Award for her unequaled spirit and tireless work which is steadily building development of South African tennis.
The Attredgeville native Makhoba was also honoured at the 8th annual Gauteng Sports Awards in Mogale City receiving the Community Based Sport & Recreation of the Year award. The awards event once again lived up to its reputation of being one of the greatest and glitzy sporting events hosted in the Province. It brought together stars from across Gauteng as guests of MEC for Sport, Arts, Culture and Recreation Ms. Faith Mazibuko.
“This has been one of the best weekends I have had – what a great honor!” said Makhoba.
“You know, sometimes we do things just to change the world of sport, give a child an opportunity to excel at a sport and make the world a much better place, we do this not even realizing that someone out there see what we are doing and appreciate our efforts but gsport and Gauteng Sport Department always reminds us that our work doesn’t go unnoticed.
Makhoba said her love for the game has enabled her to create a successful career out of the sport.
“I have a great passion and love for what I do, putting a smile on these kids fulfills my heart in so many ways. A big thank you to Kass Naidoo and her team from gsport, Hon. Gauteng MEC of Sport Ms. Faith Mazibuko for the recognition and all the sponsors who made these events possible. I would also like to thank Tennis South Africa (TSA) for their great contributions to my tennis career and our sponsors; Growthpoint, Whiphold and SRSA for supporting us,” added Makhoba.
She is the first female tennis technical official in Africa to have been awarded the coveted ITF Silver Badge, and no stranger to winning awards, last year she was crowned the Woman of the year at this longest running women’s sport awards and also took home Technical Official of the Year at the Gauteng Sports Awards.