Vusi Voetsek: Three big cheers for our women … but so much heartbreak

What a week of highs and lows — and heartbreak!

And what a week for women’s sport.

We had Tatjana Schoenmaker winning medals in the pool, we had Banyana Banyana playing their hearts out at the World Cup and we had our netball girls getting the Netball World Cup in Cape Town underway on Friday.

There has been plenty to celebrate and cheer, but sadly the results haven’t all been good.

Banyana Banyana

How very disappointing that Banyana came so close to upsetting mighty Sweden in their opening World Cup game in New Zealand earlier this week, before falling to a deflating 2-1 defeat. And then, in another blow, they threw away a two-goal lead to draw 2-2 with Argentina.

They are next up against Italy on Wednesday and will need to win that one and hope some other results go their way to advance to the next round.

Desiree Ellis’ team though could be through already, with two wins in the bag.

It is so sad because our women’s team have played so well and shown they are worthy African champions and can mix it with the very best.

But, in sport, you don’t often get second chances and they will feel they have let themselves down.

I remember meeting a provincial rugby coach once, whose team had been leading a Currie Cup final until late in the game, just for them to concede two late tries to lose by the narrowest of margins. It was heart-breaking stuff.

Afterwards the losing coach said something along the lines of “Oh well, we learned a lot, we showed we’re good enough to play in finals and compete against the best, and we’ll be back next year, I promise you that.”

Well, they didn’t make it back the next year, or the next, and that coach never did win the Currie Cup.

The lesson is when you’re in a position to win, make sure you get the job done.

SA swimmers

At the World Championships in Japan, Schoenmaker is the only South African keeping our flag flying high.

Unfortunately, Lara van Niekerk, who burst onto the scene as a 19-year-old last year, winning bronze at the World Championships and double gold at the Commonwealth Games in the breaststroke, bombed out of this week’s 100m event at the World Championships in Fukuoka.

Van Niekerk (now 20) could only manage an 18th place in the 100m breaststroke first round. Hopefully she can make up for it in the 50 metre event.

Also, there is no Chad le Clos this time as he missed the champs due to illness while Pieter Coetze opted to not take part and rather focus on his preparation for the Paris Olympics next year.

Golfers

Our golfers again let us down at the Open Championship last weekend, with only first round leader, amateur Christo Lamprecht, making the headlines.

The 22-year-old played wonderful golf at Hoylake to take the shock lead after the first round, but he, too, faded and finished down the field (tied 74th) on Sunday after four rounds of golf. He did win the silver medal for being the leading amateur, so well done to him for that.

As for the rest of the SA contingent, the less said the better.

Louis Oosthuizen finished in a tie for 23rd, Christiaan Bezuidenhout was tied 49th, and Thriston Lawrence was tried 74th.

The other six SA golfers in the field all failed to make the halfway cut.

That’s it for the Majors in 2023 … we’ll go again next year and hold thumbs again that someone from these shores can bag a next Major for our country.