Africa celebrated the International Day of University Sport with vigor across the continent.
The Federation of Africa University Sports had double to celebrate with Ivory Coast announced as the 2024 host to the FASU University Games. The attribution announcement came as Africa’s continental university sports federation president, Nomsa Mahlangu, was in Ivory Coast for #LetsIDUS celebrations in the country.
Mahlangu met with Ivory Coast’s minister of sports, Claude Paulin Danho, who pledged the support of the Ivorian government to realize a successful hosting of the 2024 FASU Games.
President Mahlangu proclaimed the announcement on social media, tweeting “When your primary Job is Sport, and you serve in Sport. One assignment serves different purposes. Mission fulfilled had fruitful engagements. FASU Africa we are definitely rising together.”
This year’s #LetsIDUS activities brought together 437 students, faculty and community members for a 5-kilometer campus race last Wednesday on the Sol Plateja University in Northern Cape Town, South Africa.
The University of Johannesburg celebrated IDUS with games and activities on its Soweto campus with student fitness training, a squash skill exhibition, and enterprising entertainment by the university cheerleading team, UJ Cheer.
Various other celebrations took place across Africa. These included a novelty football match at the ongoing higher institution football league in Nigeria, a
FASU conference in Zambia, a basketball game hosted by the University of Botswana and fitness exercise sessions in Rwanda.
The Comoros university sports federation celebrated its first IDUS with a special seminar on university sports. Cultural displays followed, as did a basketball game between host school Arso-Tech and a city-select side from Domoni.
“We feel very privileged to be part of the #LetsIDUS,” said Attoumane Mohamadi, secretary-general of the Fédération Comorienne du Sport Scolaire et Universitaire.
“Celebrating it is one of our goals for the growth of sports in our country using school sports and a benchmark. We used this opportunity to show our community the commitment of our students’ sports and we hope to continue to grow this part of our society.”