HOW TEAM SA FARED – DAY 3 (7 April 2018)
They started the day with three medals in the bank, with two golds and bronze, leaving them sixth on the medals table, and Team SA increased that count on day three. This is how they fared.
BOWLS
Men’s Triples, Section A: India picked up a shot on the final end (the 18th) to edge South Africa 18-17 in their fifth round match. Team SA’s Rudi Jacobs, Morgan Muvhango and Gerry Baker let a 15-8 lead slip after 14 ends. India picked up six shots on the 17th end to tie things up at 17-17 before taking the win on the 18th.
Preliminary, Women’s Singles, Section A: Colleen Piketh eased to a comfortable 21-9 win over Zambia’s Getrude Siame in their fifth round match. It was tight with the score 9-9 after nine ends, but Piketh then turned on the heat, picking up 12 shots in only five further ends.
Women’s Singles, Quarter-final: Piketh put her herself into medal-winning contention with a 21-19 win over local favourite Karen Murphy. Piketh found herself 4-0 down after three ends and then 7-1 down by the sixth. By the 10th she’d moved into the lead (8-7). At the 23rd end she was 19-18 down but the Aussie was unable to add to her score as Piketh moved three clear for the win.
Men’s Pairs, Section B: South Africa’s Petrus Breitenbach and Jason Evans won their fifth round match over the Isle of Man’s Kenneth McGreal and Mark McGreal 19-13, in a match in which they always looked in control, stretching into the lead after things had been 6-6 after eight ends.
Men’s Pairs, Quarter-final: This one went down to the wire as Breitenbach and Evans lost out by a single shot, 15-14 to the Cook Islands. It was all square at the 16th (13-13) but then the Pacific Islanders notched up two scores on the next end and although the SA pair clawed one back on the final end it wasn’t enough.
Women’s Fours, Round Five: Esme Kruger, Nicolene Neal, Johanna Snyman and Elma Davis raced to an 11-1 lead against New Zealand after just five ends. Although the Kiwis fought back the South Africans always looked to have things in the bag, winning 16-11.
Women’s Fours, Quarter-final: Midway through this clash, the South African team (same as above) were up 12-1 (again against New Zealand) and went on to win 16-8 to set themselves up for a definite shot at a medal.
Mixed B2/B3B4 Pairs, Round Three: Princess Schroeder and Philippus Walker (directed by Graham Ward and Johanna van Rooyen) raced out to an 14-0 lead after nine ends and then steadily added to that tally before winning 18-3 against Scotland.
Open B6/B7/B8 Triples, Round Three: It was Christopher Patton, Tobias Botha and Willem Viljoen who steadily accumulated points along the way to a 21-4 victory against Wales.
CYCLING
Men’s 15km Scratch Race, Heat One: Former world silver medallist in this event, Nolan Hoffman ended 14th and last, failing to qualify for the final. The race was won by John Archibald of Scotland .
Men’s 15km Scratch Race, Heat One: David Maree ended eighth to book a place in the final but Joshua van Wyk failed to finish.
HOCKEY
Men’s Pool A: South Africa fought hard but went down 4-0 to the host nation. They held it together for the first quarter but then conceded in the second, third (twice) and fourth quarters. Trent Mitton netted twice for the Aussies as South Africa had Dayaan Cassiem yellow-carded and Daniel Bell green-carded.
NETBALL
Pool A: South Africa bounced back from defeat against Jamaica in their opening game here and beat Northern Ireland 49-35. Coach Norma Plummer’s girls won three of the four quarters, only being shaded in the second (12-11). Sigi Burger was the dominant force for South Africa with 38 goals from 41 attempts and Ina-Marie Venter and Maryka Holtzhausen weighed in with seven and four of their own respectively.
South Africa’s Tatjana Schoenmaker wins the swimming women’s 200m breaststroke final during the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games at the Optus Aquatic Centre in the Gold Coast on April 7, 2018 / AFP PHOTO / FRANCOIS XAVIER MARIT (Photo credit should read FRANCOIS XAVIER MARIT/AFP/Getty Images)
SWIMMING
Men’s 200m Butterfly, Heats: Chad le Clos and Eben Vorster were the first in action on the day in two different heats, which effectively were semi-finals. Le Clos, the defending champion, did what he had to, finishing third in 1:57.89 in a race won by Canada’s Darragh Mackenzie (1:56.96), while having time to look around for the opposition and qualify for the final. Vorster finished sixth in his heat in 2:00.72 for 12th overall and missing the final.
Final: GOLD! Chad le Clos led from start to finish to surge to an impressive win in 1:54.00. The outcome never seemed in doubt after he’d got off the blocks and he stretched away to win by 2.36 seconds. ‘I heard the crowd shouting in the last 50m and I thought someone was catching me, and I thought “oh no”,’ he smiled. It was his third straight Commonwealth Games 200m butterfly gold, a Games record and his 14th Games medal.
Women’s 200m Breaststroke, Heats: Kaylene Corbett finished third in the first of three heats with a time of 2:27.68. It was a fine swim from the 18-year-old who qualified for the final in seventh spot overall. She will be joined by Tatjana Schoenmaker who continued her strong form from the 100m with a fast 2:23.57 in winning her race and going into the final as the No 1 seed. Emily Visagie is a reserve for the final, qualifying ninth overall after finishing fourth in the heat won by Schoenmaker. She later went through after a withdrawal.
Final: GOLD! Tatjana Schoenmaker is only 20 but she marked herself as a future superstar by winning gold, in her second African record of the day, in 2:22.02. Two other South Africans in the final, Emily Visagie and Kaylene Corbett, finished seventh and eight in 2:29.25 and 2:29.40, respectively.
Men’s SB8 100m Breaststroke, Heats: Kaleb van der Merwe finished seventh in his heat in 1:28.26 to qualify for the final where the same eight swimmers will be in action. Australia’s Timothy Disken (1:13.87) led the way while Blake Cochrane’s 1:19.81 seemed to be where Van der Merwe will be aiming if he wanted to be in the medals.
Final: Kaleb van der Merwe finished seventh in 1:26.11, with Australia’s Timothy Disken taking gold in 1:12.42.
Women’s 50m Butterfly, Heats: Emma Chelius finished fourth in her heat in 27.55 and Erin Gallagher was also fourth in her heat in 27.05. Both qualified for the semi-finals in eighth and 13th place overall and will be quietly confident of going quicker in the evening in their quest to make the final.
Men’s 100m Freestyle, Heats: This is one of the blue riband races of the Games and Chad le Clos booked his place in the semi-finals with a 49.17 swim. ‘I can’t match him off the blocks,’ said Australia’s Jack Cartwright, who came through to win the heat in the last 50m with the South African second, which left Le Clos seventh fastest going into the semis. Calvyn Justus finished seventh in the same race with a 50.06 for 20th overall and missing out on the semi-finals.
Semi-final: Chad le Clos won the second semi-final in 48.61, beating home Olympic champion Kyle Chambers of Australia, to go into the final as the second fastest qualifier.
Men’s 100m breaststroke, Final: Cameron van der Burgh picked up the bronze medal after a strong start. Adam Peaty, the favourite, won in a Games record 58.84, with England’s James Wilby finishing fast in 59.43. Van der Burgh was just 0.01 behind in third. ‘At this stage of my career the 50m is probably my best event, but I’m very happy. People remember medals, not times and I’m happy to come here and win another medal,’ he said.
Women’s 50m freestyle, Final: Erin Gallagher performed admirably in her first Commonwealth Games final. The 19-year-old finished fifth in 25.03, the same time she had registered in the semi-final. ‘I was hoping to go 24-something, but I’m learning all the time and there’s a lot more to come from me,’ she said.
Semi-finals: Emma Chelius placed seventh in 27.52 and missed out on a place in the final, but Erin Gallagher, who was fourth in her semi, in 26.85, got in to the final with the eighth fastest time.
TRIATHLON
Mixed Team Relay: There was heartache for Team SA after the heroics of Thursday when Henri Schoeman won South Africa’s first gold medal of the Games. On this occasion, even he was powerless to prevent the team ending last of eight teams. The team’s (Simone Ackermann, Schoeman, Gillian Sanders and Richard Murray) time of 1hr 23min 34sec was two seconds shy of gold medallists Australia with England second and New Zealand third. Ackermann had come out of the 250-metre swim leg looking comfortable midway through the field. But it was apparent extremely early in the bike leg that she was in trouble. Team manager Lindsey Parry explained later that Ackermann had appeared to aggravate an old hip injury or perhaps even pick up a new injury.
WEIGHTLIFTING
Women’s 63kg final: Veteran Commonwealth Games lifter Mona Pretorius took bronze with a total of 206kg. The Port Elizabeth powerhouse, now based in Texas, United States, returned a snatch total of 91kg and went on to lift 115kg in the clean and jerk. The 29-year-0ld was beaten by Canadian Maude Charron (220kg) and England’s Zoe Smith, just one small kilogram separating silver and bronze. This was Pretorius’ fourth Commonwealth Games and also South Africa’s fourth medal of the 2018 Games.
