Mpumelelo Mhlongo wins gold to bag Team SA’s first medal at Paralympic Games

Mpumelelo Mhlongo bagged South Africa’s first medal at the Paralympic Games in Paris on Sunday night, winning gold in the men’s T44 100m sprint final.

Mhlongo, a two-time world champion, dashed across the line in 11.12 seconds, with Cuban athlete Yamel Vives Suares taking the runner-up spot in 11.20.

In the men’s T47 high jump final, Khumo Pitso finished fifth after clearing the bar at 1.98 metres, setting a new African record, and Lizel Gouws was eighth in the women’s T37 long jump final with a best leap of 3.62m.

Earlier on Sunday in the track and field competition, visually impaired distance runner Louzanne Coetzee (with her guide Erasmus Badenhorst) finished second in her T11 1 500m heat in 4:45.25, booking her place in the final to be held this morning (10.10am).

Yane van der Merwe did not register a legal jump in the women’s F64 discus throw final.

Other sports

Elsewhere in the morning session at the Paris Games, 51-year-old archer Shaun Anderson did well to edge out Turkish opponent Yigit Aydin with a 133-132 victory in the 1/8 elimination round of the individual men’s W1 competition.

Anderson went on to dig deep in the quarterfinals but he was handed a narrow 136-134 defeat against Zhang Tianxin, missing out on a place in the semifinals.

On the wheelchair tennis court, the quad doubles pairing of Donald Ramphadi and Lucas Sithole were defeated in their semifinal clash against Sam Schroder and Niels Vink of the Netherlands (6-1 6-1).

Ramphadi and Sithole will turn out again in the bronze medal match on Wednesday.

Alwande Sikhosana was eliminated in the second round of the men’s singles tournament, losing his match against Daisuke Arai (6-1 6-0).