Badminton duo Ackerman & Scholtz Albertse clinch All Africa gold, eye more international glory

JOHANNESBURG – Johanita Scholtz Albertse and Amy Ackerman clinched the women’s doubles gold medal in February at the All Africa Senior Championships in Douala, Cameroon.

EWN caught up with the duo to discuss the competition and their year ahead.

"I feel that there were ups and downs but the biggest thing I'm taking home is that I went to learn and to experience where I could improve my game individually. I am also grateful for the partnerships I've formed with Caden Kakora, we are taking on good players in Africa, which is nice, especially because we are singles players trying to play mixed and achieving a lot in the meantime and taking home a bronze from the All Africa Champs," said Scholtz Albertse.

The Olympian said that she was proud of the ladies' doubles win and that the last time she partnered with Amy Ackerman was four years ago.

"I am very satisfied with my performance, as everything we trained seamlessly fell into place during our games," said Ackerman.

The All-Africa Individual championships were challenging for Team SA with several close matches, with four of South Africa’s six losses coming in three-set encounters. And Scholtz Albertse exited in the quarterfinals of the women’s singles.

"The lesson was that the level in Africa is growing and that I need to take that step up. Footwork, technique, tactics, especially if we want to dominate as a team as well. So there will be long and hard training sessions lying ahead. That's what's nice about big tournaments - you can't become comfortable, there is always a challenge and you can always improve your game. No time for standing still," said Scholtz Albertse.

 Ackerman told EWN that one of her goals for 2025 was to win the AllAfrica for women’s doubles, which she achieved.

"My goals for the rest of the year would be improving what I need to work on court and hopefully winning a few more international titles."

READ MORE:
'I just want to play with freedom' - Badminton player Scholtz

'We're working on being consistent on the court': SA badminton ace Ackerman

SA women's badminton team dominates at the All-Africa Men’s & Women’s Team Championships

Ackerman started playing badminton in the garden, hitting the shuttle over the telephone wire with her father.

She then went on to play for her primary school, where she was introduced to professional coaching.

"Nita and I had a very good game plan going into the competition, which helped against our opponents. The lessons that we learnt were that having a variety of shots to play helps and being strong on attack and defence allows us to be more comfortable on the court and allows us to play our game," said Ackerman.

Free State-based athlete Scholtz Albertse said that this year was all about training and focusing on getting to a higher level.

"It's a new cycle and that means there is time for training and small detail work. So I hope and know that this year will be the start of new goals being set and achieved."