Bloemfontein- Sentraal High School fencer, Ruan Coetzee, is in Botswana where he is representing South Africa in the African Youth Games (AYG) between 22 and 31 May 2014, in Gaborone.
This is the first Youth Games in which a South African fencer is competing and all the African countries are represented.
There are 21 sporting codes participating in the event, with the fencing only scheduled for Thursday and Friday, 29-30 May.
Only six South African fencers were selected, one for each category and Coetzee was selected as the number one Under-17 Sabre fencer in South Africa.
Coetzee competed in National competitions throughout the year and achieved the number one ranking due to the number of points achieved at every competition he had competed in.
In March, Ruan was selected as part of the South African junior fencing team to participate in the Junior African Fencing Championships which was hosted in Egypt.
There, he also competed in the sabre category and the team managed to clinch the bronze medal.
The 15-year-old Grade 10 pupil also competed against the other African countries and ended in the top 8 in Africa in the Under-20 age group in the individual events.
