SA athletes strike gold at Paralympic Games

Ending the nation’s drought in the early stages of the Games, South Africa’s track and field team delivered a spectacular double on Saturday by snatching two gold medals on day four of the Tokyo Paralympics.

After settling for the silver medal at the London 2012 and Rio 2016 editions of the Games, Anrune Weyers took a big step up to win the women’s T47 400m final.

Weyers completed the one-lap race in 56.05 seconds, finishing well clear of Lisbeli Vera Andrade of Venezuela, who took second place in 57.32.

Double amputee Ntando Mahlangu was equally impressive in the men’s T63 long jump final.
Mahlangu launched a massive 7.17m leap to break the world record in the T61 class, winning a thrilling battle which went down to the wire.

Leon Schaefer of Germany grabbed the silver medal with a best jump of 7.12, while South African Puseletso Mabote took ninth position with a 5.18m attempt, setting a T63 African record.

There was no luck, however, for Dyan Buis, with the experienced sprinter finishing fifth in his T38 100m heat in 11.75 seconds as he missed out on a spot in the final.

Meanwhile, on the court, wheelchair tennis star Kgothatso Montjane had no trouble in her first-round singles match, earning a 6-2 6-1 victory over Saki Takamuro of Japan.

Compatriot Mariska Venter lost her opening match, with Japanese opponent Mamoko Ohtani picking up a 6-1 6-2 win, while Leon Els was defeated in his second-round match against Britain’s Gordon Reid (6-2 6-0).

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In their first-round men’s doubles contest, Els and Evans Maripa lost 7-5 1-6 2-6 against the American pairing of Casey Ratzlaff and Conner Stroud.

Elsewhere, in the pool, Hendrik van der Merwe was ninth fastest in the men’s SB5 100m breaststroke heats in 1:46.22, and Katherine Swanepoel was 11th overall in the women’s 150m SM4 individual medley in 3:21.19, with both swimmers missing out on the finals.

In archery, Philip Coates-Palgrave beat Andrey de Castro of Brazil 142-135 in his first-round CMO elimination contest.

He was knocked out in the second round, however, with opponent Alisina Manshaezadeh of Iran securing a 143-130 victory.