31/03/2026
VALAITHAM AND OTSWELENG TIPPED TO WIN GOLD AT SPLASH
The hallowed sands of Kings Beach in Gqeberha, formerly Port Elizabeth, in the Eastern Cape will be the venue for newly branded ‘’Futures’’ Splash Festival Annual Beach Volleyball Championship taking place from 3 to 5 April. Over the year’s beach volleyball has become the foremost beach sport at the annual Splash Festival.
Unlike previous years, this year’s ‘’Futures’’ event will cater for athletes in the under 25 age category. According to VSA President, Mr. Anthony Mokoena the ‘’Futures’ event is an initiative by the FIVB for National Federations to provide a platform for emerging talent to showcase their skills to the National Coach for inclusion in the National team set up for future regional and zonal competitions being given the nod to represent South Africa in African Continental and World championships.
The 2026 Splash Championship has attracted fourteen (14) men and eleven (11) women’s teams respectively. As ‘’pioneers’’ in the inaugural ‘’Futures’’ under 25 Splash Festival National Beach Volleyball Championship, the teams are set to pull out all the stops on the journey to the winners podium as medallists.
In the men’s category, Deloshen Valaitham, a first -year student at the University of Western Cape (UWC) has teamed up with Kemo Otsweleng, a graduate from the Vaal University of Technology (VUT) as a formidable force that is set to make history as the winners of the inaugural ‘’Futures’’ Splash championship and pocket the winners’ cash. The pundits strongly favour the duo of reaching the podium as gold medallists as both players have international experience and are presently in the top 4 of position of players selected for the SA National Team beach volleyball squad.
Meanwhile the race will be on for who will be joining Deloshen and Kemo at the winners’ podium as the silver and bronze medallists. Likely candidates are the Western Cape’s Jayden Cupido who represented South Africa at a World Championship and his partner Tristan Adams and James Rose and Rishi Timm.Also, joining the race to the podium will be Gauteng’s Bradley Davie and Tivon Massis Muller.
KZN’s hopes of reaching the semi-final stages rests on the shoulders od ‘’twenty-something’’ Mohammed Fakey and Shalin Subramany, from the University of Kwa Zulu Natal (UKZN) will be making their debut at the Splash ‘’Futures’’ National Championship. According to Shalin they are unfazed by the occasion as they began their gym and beach court training several months ago and are in peak physical condition.‘’The only hurdle we have to encounter is experience participating at the national level,’’ said Shalin.
In the women’s category beach volleyball pundits are reluctant to predict the medallists at this year’s championship as the event has a large number of debutants. However, the Gauteng duo of Zeevah Pocock and Tatum Ramdhani have the edge over the others as Zeevah Pocock recently represented South Africa at an international beach Volleyball Championship in Angola, gaining invaluable experience albeit playing away from home. In addition, Zeevah’s commanding presence at the net strikes fear in the hearts of her opponents as she seals the net with her outstretched hands, stopping the attacked ball dead in its track and back to the feet of the attackers. To win the Splash event, newcomer Tatum Ramdhani has to up her game with a gutsy performance as a cover player, and attacker when the opponents choose to play the first to her instead of Zeevah, a strategy often used to take the attack away from the main attacker.
Also, in the race to the winners’ podium will be Western Cape’s Lerato Mosole and partner Jaida NG and the Gauteng pairing of Thabisile Ramphany and Lesego Malebo.
According to Tournament Director, Mr. Anthony Mokoena, ‘’it’s all systems go,’’ for the hosting of the newly branded ‘’Futures’’ Splash Festival National Beach Volleyball Championship which has a prize money of R50 000 shared equally for both genders.
Released by
Donovan Nair
VSA SG
