Simone Kruger wins Team SA’s second gold medal at Paralympic Games

Junior athlete Simone Kruger gave the national team’s medal count a boost by claiming gold in the women’s F38 discus throw at the Paralympic Games in Paris on Friday night.

In a closely contested final, 19-year-old world champion Kruger triumphed with a third-round throw of 38.70 metres, setting a new Paralympic record.

Chinese athlete Li Yingli took the runner-up spot just six centimetres behind (38.64m) and Xiomara Hernandez of Colombia (38.36m) grabbed bronze.

Kruger raked in the SA team’s fifth medal of the Paris Games, and their second gold, lifting the squad to 43rd position in the overall standings with a total of five podium places (two gold and three bronze).

Meanwhile, in the men’s T62 400m final on Friday night, Paul Daniels and Daniel du Plessis were unable to make an impact in the battle for the podium, finishing well off the pace in a fast race.

Daniels was sixth in 50.63 seconds, setting a personal best, while Du Plessis ended eighth in 52.91.

American sprinter Hunter Woodhall won gold in 46.36, tearing clear down the home straight to secure a convincing victory.

Earlier on Friday on the track, Collen Mahlalela finished second in his T47 400m heat in 48.65 seconds, progressing to the final to be held tonight (8.59pm).

Elsewhere, on the judo mat, Ndyebo Lamani lost 10-0 against Eduardo Gauto of Argentina  in his round-of-16 contest, and he was eliminated from the U-73kg men’s J1 division.

Looking ahead

With just two days of competition remaining this weekend, the national squad were running out of opportunities to climb the table, with only a few opportunities remaining in swimming and athletics.

Christian Sadie will line up in the men’s 50m butterfly S7 heats this morning (10.25am) in search of a spot in tonight’s final.

It will be Sadie’s fourth appearance in a final in the French capital after he finished fifth in the 100m backstroke and 200m individual medley events, as well as seventh in the 50m freestyle in his classification.

Closing out the SA team’s campaign, distance runner Louzanne Coetzee, who earned bronze in the T11 1 500m event earlier this week, will target another place on the podium in the women’s T12 marathon tomorrow morning (8.30am).