Wheelchair tennis stars bring home Paralympic bronze

Donald Ramphadi and Lucas Sithole are the first South Africans to win a wheelchair tennis medal at the Paralympics.

3 hours ago
Allison Cooper 1 minute read
Donald Ramphadi and Lucas Sithole. Image: X Video screenshot/ITFTennis.

Wheelchair tennis quad-doubles players Donald Ramphadi and Lucas Sithole delivered in style at the 2024 Paralympics – winning the bronze and taking Team South Africa’s overall medal tally to four.

 

According to Parlaympic.org, Sithole made history in 2013 becoming the first African wheelchair tennis player to win a Grand Slam.

The quad player won all his US Open round-robin matches, before beating the USA’s David Wagner in three sets in the final.

At the start of 2016, he added another Grand Slam to his collection when he claimed the Australian Open doubles title alongside the USA’s Wagner. The pair dominated Dylan Alcott and Andy Lapthorne to win 6-1 6-3.

Sithole continued to reach finals during the season but lost out at the Rio 2016 Paralympics to Alcott in the semi-finals.

 

According to his bio on Team South Africa’s website, Ramphadi became the first South African in both able-bodied and wheelchair categories to win at Roland Garros in decades and is only the third South African player to contest a Grand Slam tournament.

 

Other South African Paralympians to watch out for later today are:

Athletics

• Men’s T64 long jump, final (20.29): Mpumelelo Mhlongo
• Women’s T37 100m, heats (21.45): Sheryl James

Swimming

• Men’s S7 50m freestyle, final (19.06): Christian Sadie

Read original story on www.citizen.co.za

3 hours ago
Allison Cooper 1 minute read
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