After just over four months of sitting on the sidelines and having narrowly missed out on the opportunity to have picked up the top goal scorer award during the 2006-07 season, Chiefs striker Kaizer Motaung Junior, who celebrated his 26th birthday a week ago, is happy to put that episode behind him, as he resumed full training session with the rest of his teammates on Tuesday morning.

Although he is not expected to feature during Chiefs' opening league fixture of the season on Wednesday evening against Benoni Premier United, he will in all likelihood be available for selection when Chiefs host Jomo Cosmos in Durban on the 25th August.

With the start of the new season on the horizon the return to training of last seasons PSL player of the year award nominee will be a boost for coach Muhsin Ertugral, with Siphiwe Tshabalala and David Obua also showing good signs in their bid to be fully fit things are progressing nicely on the injury front for Chiefs.

Fighting fit

Kaizer Motaung Junior was allowed to resume normal training on Tuesday after a final assessment done by the Kaizer Chiefs medical team found that he had made a full recovery from the April injury, and he was given the all clear to participate in the Tuesday morning training session.

For Kaizer Junior, the news came as a relief for the striker who for the better part of the past few months has been working hard on finding his way back to full fitness, after months of visiting a number of doctors and specialists and doing recovery work.

Kaizer is happy to close this chapter for his life and is fighting fit for the upcoming season, as he explained to Kaizerchiefs.com after training on Tuesday “Getting back to full fitness has been a long and sometimes tiring journey. Being able to resume training is a big step forward for me at the moment.

"I feel really strong physically as well as mentally, and I am focused on trying to get myself back into the team hopefully by the time we meet Cosmos next week I will be in the coaches plans for that game”.

Good news on the injury front

Other Chiefs players on the injury list whose recoveries have also taken a turn for the better, is that of midfielder Siphiwe Tshabalala who was injured during a Vodacom Challenge game against Orlando Pirates on the 27th July. He began with light training and various rehabilitation work over the past couple of days.

The Bafana Bafana midfielder is not able to play on Wednesday night but he too is targeting to make a return to full training within the next week or so.

David Obua who injured himself while on duty for the Uganda national team in June, continues in his efforts to get back to full fitness. Chiefs star performer from the 2005-06 season started training on Monday with the rest of the team; although he does feel that he still needs some time before he is 100% fit.

He said, “Together with the medical team, I have been making progress in working my way back to full fitness, I have decided to let the process be a gradual one and am not rushing it in any way. I need to make sure that when I return to action I am fully fit and ready. Slowly but surely I am on my way to having an optimum level of fitness.”