Tshabangu nets top SASCOC job

Johannesburg - Lazilayana Tshabangu is the new SASCOC High Peformance general manager. Tshabangu replaces Tubby Reddy, who recently was appointed SASCOC Chief Executive Officer.

Reddy described Tshabangu’s recruitment as a coup for SASCOC’s drive to 12 medals by the 2012 London Olympics, with Tshabangu having made a huge impact as Director of Sport and Recreation in the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality.

“We speak about the quality of athlete we need to develop to win medals, but as important is the quality of person charged with seeing through this vision as High Performance General Manager,” said Reddy. “Lazilayana has a strong sporting pedigree and a wealth of knowledge when it comes to sports science. Her work within Ekurhuleni has also been very impressive in the last two years.”

Tshabangu, who starts in April, has a BA (Human Movement Studies) Honours, an MA (Sports Science) and is completing a PhD in Exercise Science.

Reddy also confirmed the High Performance Commission’s identification of an initial 53 athletes for the SASCOC elite programme.

“The names will be presented to the SASCOC Board on March 17 as part of SASCOC protocol and will then be made public. The 53 names exclude nominations from Athletics South Africa, who are in the process of finalising their nominations,” said Reddy.

The 53 athletes comprise 37 Olympics and 16 Paralympics candidates.