South African athletes earned another impressive haul of medals at the Commonwealth Games in Australia today, winning 1 gold, 2 silvers and 3 bronzes. This brings our total medal tally to 32, and puts us at fifth overall.
The highlight of the day was another epic double gold and silver for the T12 men’s 100m sprint. Ndodomzi Jonathan Ntutu won gold in a time of 11.02 while Hilton Langenhoven sped to silver in 11.27 seconds, replicating the double win by Akani Simbine and Henricho Bruintjies in the able-bodied 100m final.
T12 is a category for athletes with visual impairment. Ntutu’s qualifying time of 10.8 seconds was a Commonwealth Games record, and although he wasn’t fast enough to repeat or better this time in the final, his run was still good enough to bring home the gold.
“Wow, the feeling of winning gold is just awesome, although it’ll probably only really sink in a bit later,” Capetonian Ntutu told TeamSA. “There’s no doubting Akani and Henricho’s 1-2 in the 100m the other day motivated us to try even harder to do the same here tonight.”
Langenhoven, who is close friends with Ntutu, said the pair had always set their sights on the two top spots.
“Gold and silver from Akani and Henricho was something special for South Africa and it gave us goosebumps. We were convinced we’d get gold and silver but just didn’t know what order,” he laughed.
ANOTHER GOLD FOR SOUTH AFRICA!
Ndodomzi Ntutu has won the men’s T12 100m final with compatriot Hilton Langenhoven picking up silver in the same race. #GC2018 pic.twitter.com/fTRLSQoy3N — SuperSport (@SuperSportTV) April 12, 2018
Today’s successes came after a heartbreaking upset when sprinter Anaso Jobodwana was disqualified from running the 200m final thanks to a false start in the semi. He jumped the gun off the starting blocks, but was given the green light to continue running. He finished in a time of 20.61, which was fast enough to earn him a spot in the final.
However, Trinidad and Tobago appealed and after technical officials reviewed footage of the start, Jobodwana was disqualified. His teammate Clarence Munyai made it through to the final, where he finished 5th – although that was revised to 4th position after the gold medal winner was disqualified for a lane infringement.
This time around WE ??lost the fight(those who were fighting with me) but with every negative, whatever it may be, there’s always positives. Take responsibility and use that disappointment as fuel.⛽Thank you guys. ??@clarence_munyai bring home the GOLD. ?????? pic.twitter.com/8SVKTBOJo4
— Anaso Jobodwana (@_ambitious_jay) April 12, 2018
Earlier in the day, Johannes Botha won a silver medal in the men’s 74kg freestyle wrestling. Legendary Indian wrestler Sushil Kumar defeated Botha in just 80 seconds.
LEGEND: Sushil Kumar was just too good for the opposition as he won without dropping a point in the competition. He defeated Johannes Botha of South Africa in the #GC2018Wrestling #GC2018 pic.twitter.com/wOCTdil2XW
— Sportobuddy (@sportobuddy) April 12, 2018
Wenda Nel won a bronze medal in the women’s 400m hurdles.
Wenda Nel finished in third place in the women’s 400m hurdles final to take Team South Africa’s Commonwealth Games total up to 30. #GC2018 pic.twitter.com/wTQLiaEdoQ
— SuperSport (@SuperSportTV) April 12, 2018
Alan Hatherly won bronze in the men’s cross-country mountain biking.
Congratulations to @alanhatherly who took the BRONZE medal in the Mens MTB XC at #GC2018! pic.twitter.com/NU3npX6jyy
— CyclingSA (@Cycling_SA) April 12, 2018
The B6/B7/B8 lawn bowls triples team for physically disabled players won a bronze medal after they narrowly defeated England.
Team South Africa picked up their fourth medal in lawn bowls at Gold Coast 2018 when the open B6/B7/B8 triples team won bronze. #GC2018 pic.twitter.com/Zc62LIbA3z
— SuperSport (@SuperSportTV) April 12, 2018
Watch out tomorrow for Caster Semenya in the 800m final at 12.45pm SA time, as well as Grace Legote in the rhythmic gymnastics women’s hoop final. The men’s 400m relay team will be competing in their first heat early in the morning, hoping to qualify for the final. Picture: Twitter @TheCapeArgus