Sheryl James sprints to bronze at Tokyo Games

Sheryl James kept the SA team’s medal tally rising on Tuesday, storming to bronze in the women’s T37 400m final at the Tokyo Paralympics.

The 35-year-old sprinter, who was born with cerebral palsy, finished third in 1:03.52.

Her compatriot, Liezel Gouws, was fifth in 1:06.85, with Fenfen Jiang of China winning gold in 1:01.36.

“It’s an honour to compete against some of the best runners in the world, and I had great fun out there,” James said.

In other events in the afternoon session, Anika Pretorius finished fifth in the women’s T13 100m in 12.33 seconds, clipping 0.08 off the personal best she had set in the heats earlier in the day.

Fellow sprinter Dyan Buis, who won gold at the 2016 Rio Games, fell short in defence of his title, taking fifth position in 51.39.

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In road cycling, Toni Mould was 10th in the women’s T1-2 time trial, completing the 16km course in 53:46.89.

After seven days of competition at the Tokyo Games, the SA team were lying 27th in the overall table with five medals (three gold, one silver and one bronze).