Thato Maredi finishes in the top eight!

 

Thato Wesley Maredi (from Tembisa) proudly displaying his Protea Colours at the venue in Casablanca, Morocco.

Having moved into the relegation rounds,  Thato was drawn against Setranirina Raharison of Madagascar. Setranirina is a player of great renown and the match was tense and thrilling.

Nevertheless Thato triumphed over Setranirina in a 2 - 21 victory to move forward to meet his next opponent.

Now in the top eight, Thato faced off against the indomitable Haddadi Moslem of Tunisia.

Thato gave it his all!

Thato employed every stratagem, every tactic and all his skill, but unfortunately to no avail. Haddadi proved to be too strong and Thato succumbed to the strong Tunisian player and finally lost 0 - 2.

Nevertheless, Thato, and MSSA as a whole, was more than satisfied with Thato's effort and result.

This was the first time that Thato had played in an international event for South Africa, and, he had performed admirably.

Colin Webster, President of MSSA, said, "Thato is the type of athlete that makes all of South Africa proud, and will no doubt do better in future years now that he knows the standard of play that he is up against!".

Additional reading:

• 2026 Calendar of events
• AEC24 - Champions of all of Africa - Protea Female Counter Strike 2 Esports Team wins AEC24
• AEC24 - Forged in battle - a Counter Strike story...
• AEC24 - Thato Maredi finishes in the top eight!
• Affiliation: Private Clubs
• Affiliation - Procedure to be followed by school clubs affiliating for the 2026 season.
• ACES - Avenging Bafana
• ACES - Thato advances to the knock-out stages!

Thato advances to the knock-out stages!

Tembisan Thato Wesley Maredi (left) seen with Mamadou Ndiaye from Senegal.

Even though the event ran two hours late which placed great strain on all the participating athletes, Thato Wesley Maredi, from Tembisa, rose to the challenge and kept his mind focussed on his games.

After demolishing his opponent from Ethiopia and Libya, Thato had to face the skillful Mamadou Ndiaye from Senegal.

Thatho battled hard against Mamadou, but eventually succumbed to intense pressure from the Senegalese player who is expected the finish in the top four.

Nevertheless, Thato has progressed out of the group stages into the dreaded knock-out stages for the top sixteen (16) players.

After a good night's rest, Thato is feeling enthused and ready to take on all opponents.

As Thato said, "I will rectify my mistakes from yesterday - as I'm typing I am re-watching yesterday's stream   I am ready for today's matches, and I will give my best!".

The matches are to be streamed on: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPOERO55yWo

Additional reading:

• 2026 Calendar of events
• AEC24 - Champions of all of Africa - Protea Female Counter Strike 2 Esports Team wins AEC24
• AEC24 - Forged in battle - a Counter Strike story...
• Affiliation: Private Clubs
• Affiliation - Procedure to be followed by school clubs affiliating for the 2026 season.
• ACES - Avenging Bafana
• ACES - Thato advances to the knock-out stages!

Avenging Bafana

Thato Wesley Maredi, is the first  Protea esports player that comes from Tembisa, and is determined to avenge Bafana Bafana in Morocco this month.

With Bafana Bafana unceremoniously exiting CAF in 2025, Thato Wesley Maredi star South African efootball athlete and official Protea team member for the efootball game title, has landed in Casablanca, Morocco to wreak havoc and let slip the dogs of war upon the other participating countries.

Forty-two of the top esports countries are present at ACES Africa eSports Championships are present even though the championships were organised at very short notice. However, the Moroccan government proved to be of great assistance as many nations were only able to apply for their VISAS at the last moment. The South African team only received their VISAS at 14H00 on the day of departure! 

Thato begins battle today, 15 January 2026,  and is facing off against very stiff competition indeed from Ethiopia, Senegal, and Libya. 

Thato is determined to give his best and is determined to carry the South African flag with both pride and honour. When looking at Thato's schedule, Thato will be introduced to international competition through fire as he will be playing three games in only three hours...

Thato's schedule is:

18:45	Ethiopia	Selom Seyfu	vs	Thato Wesley Maredi	South Africa
19:15	South Africa	Thato Wesley Maredi	vs	Mamadou Ndiaye	Senegal
19:45	South Africa	Thato Wesley Maredi	vs	Zuhayr Esam Mohammed Mahnah	Libya

The matches are to be streamed on: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPOERO55yWo

eFootball™ is an evolution from KONAMI's "PES" It's an all-new era of digital soccer: "PES" has now evolved into "eFootball™"! And now you can experience the next generation of soccer gaming with "eFootball™"!

Additional reading:

• 2026 Calendar of events
• AEC24 - Champions of all of Africa - Protea Female Counter Strike 2 Esports Team wins AEC24
• AEC24 - Forged in battle - a Counter Strike story...
• Affiliation: Private Clubs
• Affiliation - Procedure to be followed by school clubs affiliating for the 2026 season.
• ACES - Avenging Bafana

PES 2020 selected as an Official Title For 11TH ESPORTS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

PES 2020 shall be played at IESF's 11th World Championships.

International Esports Federation (IESF) hereby announces eFootball PES 2020 as an official game
title to be featured at the 11th Esports World Championship.

For the first time in Esports World Championship history, eFootball PES 2020 (developed and
published by Konami Digital Entertainment) has been included as a sports genre with the new version
being officially announced worldwide on 10 September 2019. IESF looks forward, and is excited to,
engage with the PES community and inviting national athletes to the World Championships in Seoul.

All athletes who shall participate in the tournament are selected through national qualifiers of Esports
National Federations that are affiliated to IESF.

Thus, any athlete to represent South Africa at such World Championships shall be selected by Mind Sports South Africa (MSSA) through its normal processes.

For more information on World Championships game titles, please visit: https://www.ie-sf.org/iesf-
news/#news-list

Also read:

• Busan Metropolitan Government to cooperate actively in developing esports.
• GEES 2019 to be held in Busan, Korea, 29 to 31 August 2019
• ANNUAL CONFERENCE TO CONNECT WITH ESPORTS
• IESF announces DOTA 2 as First Game Title for 11th Esports World Championship
• 2019 Esports World Championship: December 11 to 15, 2019
• Excitement abounds as GEES draws nearer.