Johannesburg – After a tough opening day at the Tokyo Olympics, Team SA bounced back into action on day two, reports teamsa.co.za
The men’s pair rowers who were eliminated after being unable to qualify for the next stage through the repechage, while the men’s four will head to Final ‘B’ and can’t medal.
The men’s waterpolo players lost to world No7s Italy. Elsewhere, skateboarder Brandon Valjalo bowed out, but competed through the pain of a broken wrist.
Here is a summary of all Team SA’s representatives in action on Sunday.
(All times in brackets denote SA times)
GYMNASTICS
Women’s Artistic gymnastics: Naveen Daries ahad a rough start but went clean on the next three apparatus,” said coach Ilse Laing (Roets).
“She is lying sixth on the vault after sub-division two. There are three sub-divisions remaining. “Caitlin Rooskrantz scored an international PB today. That’s huge for her, considering it’s the Olympics in which she’s achieved it. Both gymnasts had the experience of a lifetime.”
ROWING
Men’s Pair, repechage: Luc Daffarn and Jake Green finished fifth (out of five) in their heat at the Sea Forest Waterway on Saturday and headed into Sunday’s repechage. There they finished fourth (out of four), 9.95sec down on winners Spain. SA were eliminated
Men’s Four, repechage: The men’s four of Lawrence Brittain, Kyle Schoonbee, John Smith and Sandro Torrente will have pointed to a sluggish start blowing their prospects in Saturday’s heat but they had a chance to rebound here to Final A, by finishing in the first two against Canada, Romania, Netherlands, Poland and Switzerland. However, it was more of the same as they never headed another boat in the repechage. They now head to Final B
SKATEBOARDING
Men’s Street, Heats: Brandon Valjalo made history by becoming South Africa’s first contestant in his sport which is making its debut at an Olympic Games. Valjalo placed 18th in qualifying and failed to reach the eight-man final. His total score was 16.61, with France’s Aurelin Girauld earning 35.88pts. He had competed with a broken wrist. “He skated well this morning in training but I think the nerves got to him in the actual competition,” said manager Wendy Gila.
SURFING
Women’s round 1, Heat: Bianca Buitendag, Team SA’s only surfing representative as the sport makes its Olympic debut, took to the water at Tsurigasaki Surfing Beach. She finished 3rd in her heat behind Sally Fitzgibbons (Australia) and Brisa Hennessy (Costa Rica). It was a high scoring heat and she was leading for much of the way and surfed well. Buitendag advanced to round two later today
WATERPOLO
Men’s Group A, preliminary round: South Africa 2 Italy 21. South Africa made their debut at the Olympics for the first time since Rome 1960. They faced off against the No7-ranked team in the world. SA were competitive through the first quarter but the power of the Italians started coming through. The score at the end of the quarters read: 0-2, 2-10, 2-17 and 2-21
STILL TO COME
Cycling
Women’s Road Race – 1pm (7.00am): There are two Team SA riders competing in the road race, Carla Oberholzer and Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio. Other countries, like Netherlands, Italy and Germany, have four riders in the field, which has 67 entrants over the 137km route. Defending Olympic champion and double world gold medallist Anna van der Breggen is the favourite.
Football
Men’s Group A – 5pm (10.00am): David Notoane’s team take on France in their second match of the Games. They held out for 70 minutes against hosts Japan in their opener and take on France in a must-win encounter at the Saitama Stadium. France were beaten 4-1 by Mexico in their opening game.
Hockey
Men’s Pool B – 9.15pm (2.15pm): The action comes thick and fast with South Africa continuing their Olympic campaign with a game against the Netherlands at the Oi Hockey Stadium. The Netherlands lost their opening game 3-1 against Belgium on Saturday, while South Africa also lost 3-1 against Great Britain. However, SA played better than the final scoreline suggests. The other teams in their pool are Canada and Germany, the latter winning their game on Saturday.
Pool standings after 1 game: Belgium 3pts, Germany 3pts, Great Britain 3pts, South Africa 0 pts, Canada 0pts, Netherlands 0pts
Swimming
Women’s 100m breaststroke, Heat 5 – 7.45pm (12.45pm): Tatjana Schoenmaker, the golden girl of the pool, takes to the water in the heats. Expect her to cruise into the semi-finals as she sets out to show why she has been touted by many to be the standout performer for Team SA at these Tokyo Games.
Men’s 100m backstroke, Heat 5 – 8.01pm (1.01pm): Teenager Piete Coetzee makes his Olympic debut aged just 17 when he swims in lane one in the fifth heat. The fastest 16 swimmers from across all six heats will progress to the semi-finals.
– teamsa.co.za
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