South Africa added two more medals to their harvest at the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games on Sunday, with Chad le Clos and lawn bowler Colleen Piketh earning podium places.
Team SA have won eight medals since Thursday, made up of three gold, one silver and four bronzes.
Le Clos has been responsible for three of the medals, winning the 50m and 100m butterfly gold medals, before finishing second in the 100m freestyle final.
Piketh won her women’s singles bronze medal match 21-17 against Canada’s Kelly McKerihen.
It is Piketh’s second consecutive singles bronze, while she also boasts the 2014 Glasgow pairs gold. “I am very, very proud of the achievement and I am grateful to be able to be here to do,” she said.
“I just felt I needed to keep on putting the pressure on and putting the ball close or in the area.”
Piketh said she hoped to make it to the next Commonwealth Games in four years to finally upgrade her two singles bronzes to silver or gold.
“If am selected in four years’ time, anything can happen and I’d like to do it,” she said.
South Africa are guaranteed another bowls medal after the quartet of Elma Davis, Esme Kruger, Nicolene Neal and Johanna Strydom reached the women’s fours final after beating Malta 14-8.
They will compete for the gold medal on Monday.
Colleen Piketh added to team South Africa's medal tally at the Commonwealth Games when she took bronze in the Bowls Singles competition. Piketh, who also won a gold and bronze medal at the Glasgow Games, beat Canada's Kelly McKerihen 21-17 in a tight match. pic.twitter.com/XwEJLszJmG
— TeamSouthAfrica (@TeamSA18) April 8, 2018
South Africa’s track and field athletics team got their campaign off to a relatively good start on Sunday, with sprinters Akani Simbine and Henricho Bruintjies, and shot-putter Orazio Cremona, qualifying for finals.
Bruintjies scraped through by finishing second in his semi-final, posting a time of 10.26 seconds behind Enoch Adegoke of Nigeria.
South African 100m record-holder Simbine had to work hard during the first few phases in the race, but looked comfortable towards the end.
Simbine crossed the line in second place without making an effort to dip, clocking 10.12, with Kemar Heyman of the Cayman Islands winning the race in 10.10.
“This competition is very different with the heats and the semi-final on the same day, so it’s unknown territory,” Simbine said. “For me, it is just to get into the final and get the job done in the final.
“I’m just trying to get through. I’m trying not to drain my energy, which a fast race does. If you run a fast race now, I would be tired for tomorrow.”
Simbine, who finished fifth in the final at Glasgow 2014, the 2016 Rio Olympics and 2017 IAAF World Championships, said he was ready to finally win a medal at a major championship.
“I’m ready, confident… I’m excited for tomorrow’s final. It’s just a bit late, but I am really excited for it,” he said.
Cremona landed a qualifying throw of 19.24m, even though he lost a bit of control of the ball.
“It wasn’t great throw at all. It was the worst throw of the season so far, the ball just kind of slipped out of my hand and I couldn’t get a good connection,” Cremona said.
“But it managed to get me through the qualifying rounds and I did it on my first throw, which is all I wanted.
“My warm-up throws felt very good and very far, so I am happy with where I am.”
Meanwhile, the Proteas netball team suffered their second defeat of the Games, bowing the knee 60-38 to hosts and world champions Australia.
The South African men’s hockey side went down 6-0 to New Zealand, continuing their nightmarish run at the Games after losing to Australia 4-0 the day before.
Team SA Medals
Gold: Chad le Clos (50m and 200m butterfly), Henri Schoeman (triathlon), Tatjana Schoenmaker (200m breaststroke).
Silver: Chad le Clos (100m freestyle).
Bronze: Ryan Coetzee (50m butterfly), Cameron Van der Burgh (100m breaststroke), Colleen Piketh (lawn bowls singles), Mona Pretorius (weightlifting Under-63kg).
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