The TuksHockey men’s captain, Peabo Lembethe, has been selected for the South African team that will be competing at the FIH World Cup in Bhubaneswar, India from 28 November.

It is a dream comes true for Lembethe.

“Ever since I seriously started playing hockey it was my dream to play for the South African senior side. Now I have got my opportunity, and I am going to do my utmost not to lead the team down.”

Guy Elliot (UP-Tuks men’s head coach) does not doubt for one moment that Lembethe will step up to the plate when it matters. And he should know as he coached Lembethe while he was still at Maritzburg College and for the last three years at the university. 

“Peabo’s is the first name I will write down whenever I select any team. People who are not that knowledgeable about hockey might wonder why as he is hardly a flashy player. I think that is maybe why it took so long before he got selected to play for the Proteas.

“Peabo has got an unbelievable work rate and an ever sense of what is happening on the field. He is possibly one of the best distributors. He will never just pass the ball for the sake of doing so. He has a plan with every pass he makes.”

Lembethe just sits smiling as his former coach sings his praises. As far as he is concerned, he is just doing what is expected from him.

“I don’t care whether people notice what I do during a game as I always only got one goal and that is ensuring the team I am playing for wins. If they do, it is mission accomplished. That is what makes doing the ‘donkey work’ worthwhile. ” said Lembethe who captained the Tuks men’s side to their first ever Varsity-title earlier this year.

Lembethe is realistic to what awaits him and his teammates during the World Cup.

“We will certainly have our work cut out as we are in the same pool as Belgium and India who are respectively the third and fifth best teams in the world. Canada (11th) is the other team in our pool.”

South Africa is ranked 15.

It is not the first time that Lembethe will be playing in India. In 2016 in Lucknow he played for the South African under-21 side during the Men’s Hockey Junior World Cup. According to him, it was an unbelievable experience. 

“At times the crowd support was so loud that we hardly could hear each other speak on the field. I understand the tickets for our game against India are already sold out. So I expect it is again going to be a massive game.”

According to Lembethe for him, it is not intimidating to play in front of such big crowds.

“If you allow the spectators to get to you, it means that you are not focused on what you supposed to do.”

South Africa plays India on 28 November, Canada on 2 December and Belgium on 8 December.