Durban — A Durban University of Technology (DUT) student who’s also a Fifa enthusiast recently won a title at the 2024 University Sports South Africa (USSA) EA Sports Tournament.
Jawaad Omar, from Morningside in Durban, took home the most coveted title by winning the 2024 USSA EA FC Championship.
The tournament, organised by the DUT Sports Administration unit, was held over two days, August 30 and 31, at the Fred Crooke’s Sports Centre on the Steve Biko campus in Durban.
Omar, an Advanced Diploma in Applications and Development student and Fifa enthusiast, leveraged years of experience to secure his victory, demonstrating that his extensive background in the game was pivotal to his success.
“The experience I have had over the past few years in Fifa is just natural to me and I am always competing no matter if it is local tournaments or online. I think I won because I was just better than everyone else in this competition,” Omar said.
Expressing his gratitude, the gamer also thanked his friends for helping him with practice to get to this level in the tournament. He also thanked the coach for the opportunity to play in the tournament and the rest of the team for their support.
Eleven South African universities competed in the tournament.
The tournament’s overall winner was UCT, the runners-up being Stellenbosch University and third place was taken by DUT.
During the opening ceremony, DUT Dean of Students Dr Clement Moreku welcomed all the participants and assured them of a great, fair and transparent tournament.
“I am pleased to welcome you all at DUT as we celebrate the art of skill and talent. This tournament affords students to showcase their skills and compete at the highest level. Beyond the competition, this is an opportunity to foster fruitful community relations. We are humbled and honoured by the USSA for trusting us once again for hosting one of their tournaments. I would also like to thank our sponsors for their support,” Moreku said.
Reacting to the turnout and tournament’s success, DUT E-Sport Officer Takalani Mfamadi said e-sports has significantly grown in a short space of time and has become an influential tool in education as schools, colleges, and universities are going digital, using technology to come up with creative and innovative ways of teaching and learning.
“The success of this tournament shows how e-sports has grown and cemented a place in education as it’s a digital sport. It requires technology and innovative skills,” Mfamadi said.
USSA E-Sports executive committee secretary Andiswa Zwelibanzi shared how happy she was with the tournament’s success.
Zwelibanzi also reflected on the sport’s massive growth and the huge interest from the students.
“I am super happy. This is the fourth year of the USSA E-Sports. I can safely say this was one of the best venues, everything went well. The opening ceremony was good. We now have over 50 females compared to when we started in 2019, where we only had one is very massive,” Zwelibanzi said.
DUT was honoured to be allowed to host the tournament again. Last December, the university hosted a five-day USSA Chess Tournament, which consisted of 320 students from 20 South African universities.
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