Bokburg’s Menezes sets new SA record
Brandon Menezes (13) from Boksburg set a new u-16 South African long-jump record of 2.88m, as Gauteng dominated at the recent Netbank National Championships for the physically-disabled in Stellenbosch.
Menezes’ feat followed his silver medal performance in the u-16 double-amputees 100m sprint, where he clocked 18.57 seconds, finishing behind Mpumalanga’s Ntando Mahlangu, who dashed the field in 17.02 seconds.
Mahlangu finished second in the long-jump with a leap of 2.81m, in what was an intense rivalry between the two.
Elsewhere, tough competition was also seen between the older athletes as Vosloorus’ Junior Mavuso (19) and Bongani Mahlangu (17) battled for gold in various T/F44 items.
In the T44 u-20 200m, it was Kwa-Thema’s Mahlangu for gold (30.24 sec) with Mavuso running a 30.24 for silver.
Mahlangu also took gold in the 100m (14.08 sec) in a close race with Mavuso who clocked 14.10 seconds, just missing first place.
Tables were turned in the F44 long-jump when Mavuso leaped to a new SA record of 4.74m with Mahlangu in second with a distance of 4.68m.
Mavuso went on to secure his second silver in the F44 u-20 javelin event.
The province won a total of 283 medals across various sport codes in what was the 23rd staging of the event, with Western Province in second and North-West rounding off the top three.
