Emnotweni Casino selectively supports and invests in people who are ambassadors in their own right - they decided to sponsor young athletic stars from Nelspruit recently, and are happy to report that one of the athletes brought home a gold medal in the 800m.

The team, who are trained by Charl Naude, participated in the South African Athletics Championship in Durban where they walked away with the 1st and 5th place medals. The 26 year old Samson Ngoepa, who came first in the 800 metre race, finished in 1:45,6 seconds and has been practicing for over eight years. He competed in the 800 metres event at the 2008 Olympic Games, but unfortunately did not reach the final. He qualified to run the 800 metres at the 2009 World Championships in Athletics held in Berlin, Germany from 15 – 23 August 2009 by running a personal best time of 1:45,17 min in Ostrava, Czech Republic on 17 June 2009. At these championships he reached the semi finals of the competitions. 

“Today he is once again a champion in his own right and we would like to congratulate him on his success! It is quite a challenge to achieve a gold medal in the 800meters and we would like to encourage him to continue with these efforts so that he can once again deliver his best performance at the next Olympic Games,” comments Ig Olivier, General Manager at Emnotweni Casino.

Emnotweni Casino sponsored flights and accommodation for the team to ensure that they only needed to focus on winning and not worry about financing the trip.

For more information on Emnotweni Casino, please visit www.emnotweni.co.za