With one gold medal under their belt from day one, when Henri Schoeman won the triathlon, Team SA went in search of more medals on day two. This is how they fared.
BADMINTON
Mixed Team, Group C: South Africa were whitewashed by England, losing 5-0. Prakash Vijayanath and Michelle Butler-Emmett were beaten 21-12, 21-15 by Ben Lane and Jessica Pugh.
Bongani van Bodenstein lost his men’s singles match 21-7, 21-7 to Rajiv Ouseph.
Joanna Scholtz lost her women’s singles match 21;10, 21-10 to Chloe Birch.
In the men’s doubles, Cameron Coetzer and Van Bodenstein went down 21-7, 21-7 to Lane and Chris Adcock.
And in the women’s doubles, Buttler-Emmett and Elmé de Villiers were beaten 21-12, 21-17 by Sarah Walker and Lauren Smith.
STILL TO COME
Mixed Team, Group C: South Africa (Michelle Butler-Emmett, Elmé de Villiers, Bongani van Bodenstein, Prakash Vijayanath, Johanita Scholtz, Cameron Coetzer) vs Uganda
BOWLS
Preliminary, Men’s Triples: South Africa’s Gerald Baker, Rudi Jacobs, Morgan Muvhango beat Papua New Guinea in a close encounter, 16-15. In their second match of the day they went down to England 24-13.
Preliminary, Women’s Singles: Colleen Piketh had an easy 21-4 victory over Tonga’s Malia Kioa with the Pacific Islander unable to add to her score over the last five ends. But Piketh then went on to lose against Australia’s Karen Murphy, the score 21-16.
STILL TO COME
Preliminary, Men’s Pairs: Petrus Breitenbach, Jason Evans v Jamaica
Preliminary, B2/B3 Mixed Pairs: Princess Schroeder, Phillip Walker v New Zealand
Preliminary, Women’s Fours: Elma Davis, Esme Kruger, Nicolene Neal, Johanna Snyman v Cook Islands
Preliminary, Men’s Pairs: Petrus Breitenbach, Jason Evans v Northern Ireland
BOXING
Men’s 46-49kg: Team SA’s Siyabulela Mphongoshi lost his last 16 encounter against Sri Lanka’s Thikwanka Ranasinghe. Boxing was held at the impressive Oxenford Studios, an event surrounded by some extremely hair-raising theme parks with rollercoaster rides etc. Pretty much like this flight-flyweight encounter, which was an all-action affair. But the result was very lop-sided. Fighting out of the red corner, the South African went down 4-0 on points and had one point deducted by Canadian referee, Frank Fiacco. Of the five judges only one thought the Port Elizabeth based fighter deserved a draw. The judges scores for the three-rounder were 29-27, 29-27, 28-28, 29-27, 29-27.
CYCLING (Track)
Women’s 3000m Individual Pursuit qualifying: While none of the women went through to the evening final… there was much to smile about. Charlene du Preez set a new South African record of 3min 45.764sec in finishing 18th in the 22-strong field. Ilze Bole and the young Danni van Niekerk were 19th and 21st respectively and their times of 3:53,312 and4:03.570 were both comfortable personal bests.
Men’s 4000m Individual Pursuit: Just like their women counterparts, Steven van Heerden, Gert Fouche, Joshua van Wyk all showed that while they may not have medalled or made the final they’ve all made progress at the Games. Van Heerden also notched up a national mark with his 4:32.921 which was good for 19th spot. Fouche was 21st in 4:35.783 and Van Wyk 26th with a time of 4:43.335. It was a brutal qualifying with the four men in the final all having broken the Commonwealth Games record. All the South Africans improved on their previous bests by between six and 12 seconds.
GYMNASTICS
Women’s artistic, Qualification: Team South Africa’s pair of Claudia Cummins and Naveen Daries ended first and second respectively (field of 10) in the all-around scores of sub-division (one of four categories). Cummins had an all-around score of 46.025 (vault, 13.050, third in her sub-division; Uneven bars, 11.775, first; beam, 9.700, fifth; floor, 11.150, second), Naveen Daries was second in all-around with a total of 45.350 (uneven bars, 11.700, second; beam, 10.400, second; floor, 10.300, sixth). Both Cummins and Daries had falls, with the former’s fall on her last tumble, looking the more serious and she was taken to hospital for further assessment on a bad knee injury and looking like not taking any further part in the Games.
NETBALL
Pool A, Preliminary round: South Africa 46 Jamaica 57: South Africa started out fast, taking the match to their fancied opponents and an 11-8 lead was stretched to 15-10 by the end of the first quarter. Jamaica then clawed their way back into the contest, levelling things at 22-22 at half-time. SA responded well in the third quarter, stretching out to 35-29, before Jamaica finished the quarter strongly. Heading into the last 15 minutes SA led 38-37. But they were simply swept aside in the final quarter as Jamaica turned on the power and precision to blow away the South African resistance.
SWIMMING
Men’s 200m Freestyle: Chad le Clos showed his intent by getting off the blocks quickly and leading through 175m before he was touched off by Australia’s Kyle Chambers in their heat. Le Clos timed 1:47.37, which qualified him for the final in sixth position. Just as he likes it … the ‘underdog’.
Eben Vorster, who turns 22 later this month, finished sixth in his heat in 1:50.78, which placed him 18th overall and he’ll be watching Le Clos go for gold from the stands.
Women’s 50m Freestyle: Erin Gallagher and Emma Chelius found themselves in the same heat and both got the job done. Gallagher chased home Australia’s Bronte Campbell, the South African timing 25.21, while Chelius touched in 25.62. The performances placed them fifth and eighth fastest, respectively, and qualified them for the semi-finals.
Men’s 100m Breaststroke: Cameron van der Burgh started fast, as we have come to expect and turned in front in 27.50. He was overhauled by England’s James Wilby but timed 1:00.20, which qualified him for the semi-finals in third place behind England’s Adam Peaty.
Michael Houlie also earned a swim in the evening’s semi-finals by finishing fourth (1:01.66) in the same heat as Van der Burgh and qualified ninth fastest for the semis.
Women’s 100m Backstroke: Nathania van Niekerk swam up to expectations, with an almost identical time to her entry time. She clocked 1:02.81 to place sixth in her heat but, importantly, allowed her to squeeze into the top 16 and a place in the semi-finals.
Just missing out was Mariella Venter, who produced a 1:03.79 swim, also for sixth in her heat, to leave her one position outside the semis. She won’t be happy with her performance, given she had come into the Games with a 1:01.71.
Men’s 400m Individual Medley: There were only 10 entries for this demanding event, and they were split into two heats, with the fastest eight times overall qualifying for the final. Ayrton Sweeney had no problems doing just that, an impressive second (4:18.08) behind Australia’s Clyde Lewis. It was the faster of the two heats and Sweeney must fancy his medal chances.
Luan Grobbelaar just turned 16 on 16 March and is competing in his first major senior championship. He arrived in Australia with a best of 4:22.58 and although he finished at the back of a small five-man field in 4:22.77 and didn’t qualify for the finals, he will have learned enormously from the experience.
Men’s 4x100m Freestyle Relay: Chad le Clos has earmarked a medal from Team SA in this event, but given his workload he was rested for the morning heats. Only 12 countries entered for the 4×100 and it was always on the cards that Team SA, without Le Clos, would reach the final. Which they did – thanks to Jarryd Baxter (51.00), Ryan Coetzee (50.47), Calvyn Justus (49.67) and Eben Vorster (50.36). Not much should be read into times in relay heats, but for what it’s worth Team SA clocked 3:21.50 to qualify seventh fastest overall behind Australia, a Games record 3:12.72.
STILL TO COME
Men’s 50m Butterfly final (7.37pm Aus time, 11.37am SA time): Chad le Clos, Ryan Coetzee
Women’s 50m Breaststroke final (7.41pm Aus time, 11.41am SA time): Tatyana Schoenmaker
Men’s 200m Freestyle final (7.56pm Aus time, 11.56am SA time): Chad le Clos
Women’s 50m Freestyle, Semi-finals (8.12pm Aus time, 12.17pm SA time): Erin Gallagher, Emma Chelius
Men’s 100m Breaststroke, Semi-final(8.32pm Aus time, 12.32pm SA time): Cameron van der Burgh, Michael Houlie
Women’s 100m Backstroke, Semi-finals(8.55pm Aus time, 12.55pm SA time): Nathania van Niekerk
Men’s 400m Individual Medley, Final (9.17pm Aus time, 1.17pm SA time): Ayrton Sweeney
Men’s 4x100m Freestyle, Final (10.07pm Aus time, 2.07m SA time): Team SA
Photo: Anton Geyser/Gallo Images
