Razeen Gutta
Teenage swimmer Lara Van Niekerk stole the show on a good Saturday at the pool for South Africa at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England.
Van Niekerk won the women’s 50m breaststroke final to secure South Africa’s first gold medal of the Games — touching the wall in a record 29.73 seconds.
England’s Imogen Clark and Australia’s Chelsea Hodges claimed silver and bronze respectively.
In other poolside results, Mathew Sates finished sixth for South Africa in the 200m freestyle final, while Olivia Nel, Erin Gallagher and Emma Chelius all qualified for the semi finals of the Women’s 50m freestyle heats.
On a hockey front, the South African men’s team drew their first game of the day 2-2 against Pakistan with games against Scotland, New Zealand and Australia still to come.
The top two in the group will progress to the semi-finals.
The netball team were defeated 68-49 by Jamaica, with a chance to redeem themselves on its way tomorrow afternoon against Barbados.
The Momentum Proteas were beaten by New Zealand in their first T20 match in today’s cricket. South Africa bowled first with the Black Caps putting 167/2 on the board.
South Africa only managed 154/7 in their 20 overs, losing by 13 runs. A game against hosts England is next on the agenda for them on Tuesday.
Image source: @TeamSA2024
