UCT student leads SA team

Point man: Eugene Pelteret will lead the SA under-21 hockey team at the All Africa Games in July.

Eugene Pelteret, an honours-year student in business science, has been named captain of the South African under-21 hockey side to compete in the All Africa Games in Egypt in July.

Pelteret has his first taste of leadership in the recent series against Pakistan in Durban. It was a baptism of fire, South Africa losing four matches and drawing one against one of the world's top-ranked squads. "They're a very quick, very pacey side," says Pelteret, "and very different to what we're used to in South Africa."

But those lessons can feed into the team's All Africa campaign, South Africa going in as defending champions. Pelteret expects their stiffest competition to likely come from the host nation. "But our aim, at the end of the day, is to win the tournament."