By GARY LEMKE in Accra
What is it that Generation Z says when a plan comes together? “Boom”. Well, it was a case of “BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!” as Team South Africa scooped another four gold medals at the African Games on Sunday, to go with the five that they picked up on Saturday.
So, all in all, a really fruitful weekend for Team SA who closed off with 29 medals, which leaves them second behind Egypt on the overall medals table. On Saturday they had signed off with 13 medals and added another 16 to that on Sunday.
There were stars throughout the team, but when it came to gold they were delivered by Johanita Scholtz, who retained her women’s singles badminton crown from Morocco 2019, cycling’s Dillon Geary and two from swimming – Simone Moll and the mixed 4x100m medley relay team.
After Geary had given it all in finishing second in the men’s road race, he actually was rewarded with two medals – a silver for the race itself and a gold for being first Under-23 rider across the line.
And when it came to the evening, as was the case a night before, the swimmers came to the party, as they so often do at major multi-code championships. They picked up 13 medals, which helped nudge Team SA’s tally up to 29 across all codes, and leave them in second behind Egypt.
Arguably the swimmer of the day was Simone Moll, who continues to improve as a breaststroker and could well be the next on a conveyer belt of talent that has produced the likes of Penny Heyns, Tatjana Schoenmaker and Kaylene Corbett. No pressure.
However, she was the Region 5 Games champion from Malawi and continues her upward trajectory. On Sunday she produced a personal best in winning the 100m breaststroke in 1:09.01 and in the evening session her 1:09.50 was good enough to hold off her teammate Georgia Els in the surge to the line. I was close – 0.41 seconds separating the South Africans.
“I felt really good all day. I swam my PB in the morning prelims and then it was my second best time in teh afternoon,” said the rising star. “It’s amazing being here, the whole experience. The team spirit is high and you can hear your teammates shouting for you when you stand on the blocks. It makes a big differece to have support like that.
“I knew it would be tough, but you’re generally racing against the clock and I knew that if I could go close to reproducing my morning performance I would have a good chance.”
It’s now on to the National Championships where Moll will have an opportunity to lower her PB even further.
Elsewhere, player of the match Sheshnie Naidu claimed four wickets for 13 runs as South Africa bowled out Nigeria for 74 in their women’s T20 cricket encounter, and then Faye Tunnicliffe (45 off 34 balls) helped power Team SA into the semi-finals as they reached their target with six wickets down and 5.1 overs to spare.
On Monday the cricket women take on Uganda for a place in the final.
ALL TEAM SA’S MEDALLISTS
GOLD (9)
Clayton Jimmie (swimming, men’s 100m freestyle)
Caitlyn de Lange (swimming, women’s 100m freestyle)
Catherine van Rensburg (swimming, women’s 1500m freestyle)
Team SA 4x100m freestyle (swimming)
Simone Moll (swimming, women’s 100m breaststroke)
Mixed 4x100m Medley (swimming)
Johanita Scholtz (badminton, women’s singles)
Haylee Preen (cycling, women’s road race)
Dillon Geary (cycling, men’s road race U23)
SILVER (7)
Matthew Caldwell (swimming, men’s 800m freestyle)
Leigh McMorran (swimming, women’s 200m butterfly)
Hannah Mouton (swimming, women’s 200m freestyle)
Georgia Els (swimming, women’s 100m breaststroke)
Caitlin de Lange (swimming, women’s 50m butterfly)
Taylor Jonker (swimming, women’s 200m backstroke)
Dillon Geary (cycling, men’s road race)
BRONZE (13)
Catherine van Rensburg (swimming, women’s 200m freestyle)
Andrew Ross (swimming, men’s 200m freestyle)
Liam Vehbi (swimming, men’s 200m butterfly)
Jaydon Eaton (swimming, men’s 50m butterfly)
Helgaard Muller (swimming, men’s 200m backstroke)
Jessie Sim (karate, men’s individual kata)
Maxine Willemse (karate, women’s individual kata)
Marinda Roetz (karate, women’s kumite -50kg)
Team SA (karate, men’s team kata)
Team SA (badminton, mixed doubles)
Team SA (badminton, men’s doubles)
Team SA (table tennis, women’s team)
Lillian Mbena (wrestling, women’s freestyle 76kg)
Photo of Simone Moll by Roger Sedres
