Long jumpers earn SA’s first athletics medals
GLASGOW: On track, sand, canvas, plastic, grass and mat did South Africa win medals or advance into semi-finals and finals yesterday.
It was a magical night for the long jumpers, Rushwahl Samaai and Zarck Visser, who took bronze and silver respectively, South Africa’s first athletics medals of the Games, but not the last.
Wayde van Niekerk had Olympic 400m champion Kirani James keeping a close eye on him as he came around the bend hard and fast, pushing the man from Grenada close to win silver in 44.68 seconds. James broke a 16-year-old Games record to keep the South African at bay with a time of 44.24secs.
“It’s definitely a blessing,” said Van Niekerk.
“It’s a stepping stone to the future and gives me belief.”
Sunette Viljoen, who won gold in the javelin in Melbourne and Delhi, won South Africa’s 31st medal of the Games with second place behind Australia’s Kim Mickle.
Her 65.96m was further than Viljoen’s 62.34m from Delhi, while Viljoen threw a 63.19m off her last attempt last night.
After their first jumps, Samaai (8.08m) and Visser (7.99m) had been in second and third place behind Olympic champion Greg Rutherford, of England, who managed 8.12m. Visser launched himself 8.12m with his second to tie the lead, but Rutherford’s third jump of 8.20m decided the title.
Andre Olivier looked comfortable in his 800m semi-final, leading from the start before easing off to qualify in third place for tonight’s final.
Madi Mpho became the first South African woman to win a Commonwealth Games medal in wrestling yesterday. She took bronze in the 53kg freestyle crowd, beating Scotland’s Shannon Hawke convincingly 5-0, in just 30 seconds.
Welterweight Tulani Mbenge guaranteed at least another medal would be added to Team South Africa’s growing collection not long after Mpho’s heroics, with a convincing win over Guyana’s Guy Bancroft.
He has qualified for the semi-finals tomorrow, but there is no bronze medal fight-off, with bronze medals awarded to the losing semi-finalists. He could yet win silver or gold.
The South African women’s hockey team moved closer to a medal after beating India 3-2 at the Glasgow Green yesterday. They will play Australia in the semi-finals at 1.15pm, South African time, tomorrow.
South Africa’s bowlers could add two more gold medals to the three they already have today. The para open triples team will play New Zealand, after beating England 15-9 yesterday.
The women’s triples team have a tough semi-final against Australia today, but should they make it through, they would be the favourites against England or Wales, who are in the other semi-final.