Team South Africa started the day’s action with 21 medals in the bag, nine of them gold. Here’s what happened on Wednesday, 11 April as they went out to turn their golden tally into double figures.
ATHLETICS
Women’s javelin final:Sunette Viljoen earned yet another Commonwealth medal for South Africa. She now has a fullhouse of Games medals and this won’t be the one that makes her happiest as she had to settle for bronze on the night. She opened with a 62.08 and that was as good as it got as she slipped back with throws of 56.61, 58.69, 56.57, no throw and 57.38. Four years ago, at the last Games in Glasgow, Scotland she won silver with a throw of 63.19m. Still, she has come an awfully long road for SA and has done her country proud! Winner on the night was Australia’s Kathryn Mitchell, with her opening throw of 68.92, a Games record.
Men’s 200m semi-final 1: Clarence Munyai booked his slot in the final with a controlled 20.36 second place spot in the first of three semis. Starting out of lane three he looked smooth but slowed drastically the last few metres, whether it was just sparing energy for the final, or something more worrying, we’ll only know in time. His time was 0.18sec behind Canadian winner, Aaron Brown. Certainly Munyai wasn’t sharing anything as he races past media in the mixed zone without comment.
Men’s 200m semi-final 2: Anaso Jobodwana gave South African sports fans a near heart attack as he inexplicably fell out of his blocks and onto the track. There were a few angst-filled moments as officials conferred, showing the green card of clearance. From then on it was green for go as he came around the bend nicely to clock 20.61 in a slower heat as England’s Zharnel Hughes won in 20.37. ‘I really don’t know what happened,’ laughed Jobodwana. ‘I just kinda fell over. Then I reset and it was good. I like running from lane three but tonight the curve just seemed to go on forever. But when I got to the top of the curve I saw I was in a good position, in the final. I’m confident.’
Men’s long jump final: GOLD! Luvo Manyonga left his best to last before winning his first Commonwealth gold medal. The Olympic silver medallist and world championships gold medallist, Manyonga opened with a leap of 8.24m after Aussie Henry Frayne had made the early running with an 8.24m. Manyonga then moved into the lead with an 8.35 on his fourth attempt before, in typical showman style, unleashed the winning leap of 8.41 with his sixth and final jump – it’s also a Games record, beating Frayne’s one-day old mark of 8.34 set in qualifying! Manyonga’s fellow South African, Ruswahl Samaai added another medal to the SA warchest with bronze after and 8.22m jump on his second attempt. Samaai repeated his efforts of four years ago when he also got bronze in Glasgow, Scotland.
Men’s F38 shot put final: Reinhardt Hamman, a gold medallist in the javelin at the Rio Paralympics two years ago, earned his first Commonwealth Games bronze medallist in his secondary event. The jovial Western Cape athlete has had to change his entire throwing technique after knee surgery on his return from Rio but it was still good enough to land him bronze with a season’s best distance of 13.15m. For Juanre Jenkinson it was his Commonwealth Games debut and he ended eighth with a 9.63m effort.
BADMINTON
Women’s Doubles, Round of 32: The South African combination of Michelle Butlet-Emmett and Elmé de Villiers) bt Falkland Islands (Zoe Morris and Cheryl March) in straight sets. They won 21-3 21-5 and it was all done and dusted in just 15 minutes – with the average rally only lasting three seconds!
Mixed doubles, Round of 32: SA’s Cameron Coetzer and Michelle Butler-Emmett went down 2-0 to Canadians Krysten Tsai and Nyl Yakura. The score was 21-16 21-15 in a 22-minute scrap.
Women’s Singles, Round of 32: Elmé de Villiers went down to Saina Nehwal (India) losing 21-3 21-1 in just 18 minutes.
Women’s Singles, Round of 32: Michelle Butler-Emmett was beaten by Singapore rival Hui Zhen-Grace Chua of Singapore, the score reading 21-5 21-12 after 19 minutes.
Men’s Doubles, Round of 32: South Africa’s Cameron Coetzer and Prakash Vijayanath went down 2-1 to Ghana’s Daniel Sam and Emmanuel Donkor. They lost the first 21-23 but bounced back to win the second 26-24 before going down 21-23 in a 50-minute tie.
Men’s singles, Round of 32: Prakash Vijayanath went down to Mauritian Georges Julien, losing 2-0. Game scores were 13-21, 15-21 in 23 minutes.
Mixed Doubles, Round of 32: South Africa’s Bongani van Bodenstein and Elmé de Villiers lost 2-0 to Singapore
Mixed Doubles, Round of 32: South Africa’s Prakash Vijayanath and Nita Scholtz lost 2-0 to Singapore
BOWLS
Women’s Pairs, Section A, Round 4: South Africa’s Nicolene Neal and Colleen Piketh marched on as they beat India on Rink 17 at the Broadbeach venue. The South Africans were 8-1 up at one stage but the Indian duo fought back and indeed, took the lead (15-14) on the 13th end. Down 16-17 on the 16th the South Africans finally edged ahead on the 17th and sealed victory on the 18th.
Women’s Pairs, Section A, Round 5: Neal and Piketh were at it again, this time against Wales where they won again, with a score of 23-17. The game see-sawed in the early stages and Wales were four shots to the good on the 13th but were unable to add to their total of 17 as the Neal/Piketh combo steamrollered to victory.
Open B6/7/8 Triples, Semi-final: South Africa (Tobias Botha, Willem Viljoen and Christopher Patton) went down to Australia, 15-7. They were 7-0 down early on and never go to within two shots of the host nation.
Mixed B2/B3 Pairs gold medal match: It was a silver in the bag for South Africa’s Princess Schreuder and Philippus Walker as they went down to the host nation, 12-9 in a low-scoring affair. South Africa were first on the board but immediately on the back foot at Australia kept the pair (directed by Graham Ward and Johanna van Rooyen) at bay until the 15th and final end.
Men’s Fours, Section B, Round 4: South Africa’s Gerry Baker, Jason Evans, Rudi Jacobs and Morgan Muvhango) had few problems from their northern neighbours Botswana, winning 22-6 after leading from start to finish.
DIVING
Women’s Synchronised 3m Springboard Final: United States-based Micaela Bouter and Nicole Gillis finished sixth with a total points tally of 238.80. The gold medal was won by Australia, ahead of England. Their best scoring dive was their fifth and last when they performed an inward two-and-a-half somersaults tuck, which earned them 56.70 points and lifted them to sixth. The SA duo’s DD (Degree of Difficulty) seemed somewhat on the low side and it was only the fact that the Aussie second side had a failed five that saw the host nation propping up the standings.
GYMNASTICS (Rhythmic)
Individual qualification sub-division 1, Rotation 1: With the team’s artistic gymnasts having ‘limped’ back home with injury, it was up to this code’s Grace Legote and Chris-Marie van Wyk to fly the SA flag. Competing on Wednesday morning at the Coomera Indoor Centre. Legote was fifth with a score of 42.650 and Van Wyk seventh (35.200). Leader was Cyprus’ Diamanto Evripidou (56.975). They were in action in the hoop, ball, clubs and ribbon divisions. On the floor, Van Wyk’s musical accompaniment was California Dreamin’ by Sia – quite apt with the iconic Surfers’ Paradise venue not far away!
HOCKEY
Men’s Pool A: South Africa beat Canada 2-0 to post their first victory of the games. First goal came from Ryan Julius in the 31st minute and the matchwinner went to Reza Rosenberg in the 60th minute.
NETBALL
Pool A: South Africa notched up their second win in consecutive days when they beat Barbados at the Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre. Final score was 85-25 to the Proteas. Apart from the third quarter the Caribbean combination were beaten by 15 goals or more in each sector. Ine-Marie Venter and Sigi Burger were destroyers-in-chief netting on 34 and 33 occasions respectively with skipper Maryka Holtzhausen getting 10 for herself and replacement goal attack Renske Stoltz eight.
SHOOTING
Queen’s Prize Individual Finals (day one): Petrus Haasbroek and Jacobus du Toit ended 11th and 21st respectively on day one of this event. They returned scores of 104-12VBulls and 103-6VBulls. First day leader of the 33-strong field was Aussie Jim Bailey with 105-15, showing that things are tight at the top.
PARA TABLE TENNIS
Men’s TT6-10 Singles, Group 2: Theo Cogill went down in his second match, losing Ross Wilson (Eng) in a match that could have gone either way. Final score was 3-2 and the Capetonian will have to win his next match to secure a semi-final spot. Cogill lost the first game 11-7 but fought back to take the next two 12-10 and 11-9 before Wilson won the last two 11-9 and 11-7.
Photo: Team SA’s ace goalshooter Sigi Burger in netball action at the Games, by Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images
