Rogail Joseph became Team SA’s 100th medallist at the 13th African Games in Accra, when she surged to GOLD in the women’s 400m hurdles in a time of 55.39 seconds. Friday is Team SA’s final day of competition at the Games, where the curtain will officially come down at the closing ceremony on Saturday evening.
It was a golden evening for athletics, which claimed five medals, comprising three golds and two bronze medals. Two more medals came in boxing, taking the final Team SA total to 106.
Apart from Joseph, there was also gold medals for Asande Mthembu in the men’s long jump, with his fifth leap of 7.86m enough to win by the margin of 3cm. In the women’s shot put Ashley Erasmus won with a distance of 16.98m to make it three golds on the night.
Team SA had gone into Friday’s competition with 99 medals, which was a significant improvement on the 83 they won at the previous African Games, in Morocco 2019. They moved to 100 when Joseph won the women’s 400m hurdles title in the final evening session of the Games.
Joseph, Mthembu and Erasmus took Team SA’s tally of gold medals to 32 at these the Games. Bronze medals were secured by Ischke Senekal (women’s shot put) and Mpho Links (men’s high jump).
Here is a full list of how Team SA performed on Friday in Ghana.
ATHLETICS
Women’s Half Marathon, final
Cian Oldknow placed 7th in 1hr 16min 34sec, with South Sudan’s Loliha Atalena taking the gold medal in 1:14:36.
Maria Mjoli placed 12th in 1:21:31
Women’s 400m Hurdles, final
GOLD! Rogail Joseph surged to the gold medal in a time of 55.39sec
Women’s Shot Put, final
GOLD! Ashley Erasmus claimed gold when her final attempt of 16.98m helped her win the title
BRONZE! Ischke Senekal picked up the bronze medal when recorded a distance of 16.38m
Collette Uys finished 4th with a distance of 15.59m
Women’s 200m, final
Shirley Nekhubui finished 7th in 23.93sec
Men’s long jump, final
GOLD! Asande Mthembu produced a best leap of 7.86cm with his fifth attempt, which saw him snatch the gold medal by 3cm from Algeria’s Mohammed Triki
Men’s 5000m, final
Lesiba Mashela finished 7th in 13min 46.19sec
Men’s high jump, final
BRONZE! Links Mpho cleared 2.21m to finish in 3rd position
Keegan Fourie was successful at 2.10m which left in in 7th position
BOXING
Men’s 51kg, final
Lubabalo Lusizi vs Zambia’s Patrick Chinyemba