Odendaal shines in beach sprints

EASTERN Province’s Bradley Odendaal starred on the man-made sand of Momochi Beach Park in Fukuoka City but his individual form wasn’t enough to advance South Africa’s medal claim in Lifesaving’s Sanyo Bussan International Cup in Japan.

Odendaal, who competes for the Kings Beach club in Port Elizabeth, has for the past few seasons been the best junior beach sprinter in South Africa.

In Japan, he was equally impressive in South African national colours.

Odendaal’s second-place finish also bodes well for the future of South African beach sprinting.

Legendary South African and former world champion beach sprinter Ryle de Morny was unavailable and KwaZulu-Natal’s Jonathan Rorke, who stunningly upset De Morny in the General Tire-Lifesaving SA National Interclub Championships, was also not in Japan.

South Africa’s queen of the beach sprints and the General Tire-Lifesaving SA national interprovincial and interclub champion Mandi Maritz was also strong in all her races over the two days, and collectively South Africa’s men could not match the consistency of their female teammates.

South Africa – bronze medalists a year ago – had to be content with fourth place after a stunning two-day performance from hosts Japan “A” upstaged the more renowned South African and New Zealand challenges.

Australia won the Sayno Cup for the 10th successive time, but the biggest surprise was the performance of Japan “A”.

New Zealand are the current world champions but they are known for sending a more youthful squad to the Sanyo Cup. They’ll be stronger at the world championships, as will the likes of South Africa.

New Zealand trailed Australia and Japan going into yesterday’s final day and fell just short of beating Japan “A”.

Australia, having retained just four of last year’s winning squad of 10, still proved to be a class above the rest.

Japan’s “A” team produced the most impressive team performance in Japanese history at the Sanyo Cup and signalled the country’s intention to threaten the traditional big three of Australia, New Zealand and South Africa at the world championships.

South Africa were weakened through the withdrawal of more experienced athletes.