All Africa Championships: SA brush aside Mozambique on day one
South Africa didn't drop a single game, winning all five matches by straight sets.
South Africa claimed a 5-0 win in their opening match of the All Africa Senior Championships at the John Barrable Hall on February 13.
It was a good statement from the hosts looking to clinch the gold in the mixed-team events after placing third in the last two editions of the tournament.
They won convincingly and dropped no game on day one, winning the women’s doubles, men’s doubles, singles and mixed doubles.
In the first game, Robert White and Deidré Laurens Jordaan made light work of the Mozambican pairing of Edmilson Paulo Mutondo and Afrika Matsinhe, beating them 21:0 in straight sets and 21:1 in the mixed doubles.
Diane Olivier continued the momentum to beat Jessica de Almeida 21:5 and 21:3, helping South Africa to take a commanding 2-0 lead.
Mozambique mounted a fightback in the men’s singles when Idrisse Issofo Mossagy gave South Africa’s Caden Kakora a challenge, especially in the second set.
The first set lasted nine minutes and Kakora won y 21:4. In the second set, Mossagy fought valiantly, but the 19-year-old South African held his nerve to take the set 21:12.
Amy Ackerman and Anri Schoonees made it 4-0 for South Africa when they brushed aside De Almeida and Matsinhe 21:3 and 21:5 in the women’s doubles.
Robert Summers and partner Cameron Coetzer concluded a good day for the hosts when they defeated Mossagy and Mutondo 21:5 and 21:5 in the men’s doubles to guide South Africa to a 5-0 win.
South Africa faces Uganda, who beat Mozambique 5-0 on day one, in their match on February 14.
Other results on day one:
• Mauritius 5-0 Botswana
• Egypt 5-0 Cameroon
• Algeria 5-0 Lesotho
• Nigeria 5-0 Zimbabwe
• Reunion 5-0 Botswana
• Zambia 4-1 Cameroon
• Uganda 5-0 Mozambique
Also Read: All Africa Games: Shuttlers are confident of victory
Also Read: All Africa Championships: Meet Team South Africa – Part One
