By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
President Cyril Ramaphosa has extended his congratulatory message to the Springbok Sevens team for winning bronze medal after 29-16 victory over Australia to open Team SA medal harvest at the Olympic Games in Paris.
“Well done to our Springbok Sevens on your bronze-winning 29-16 victory over Australia to open #TeamSA‘s medal harvest at #Paris2024. This is a great start to our Games,”he wrote on X.
In the gold medal match France were inspired by their talisman Antoine Dupont, who scored two tries and assisted one to help them claim a famous 28-7 win over Fiji to become the Paris Olympic Games Rugby Sevens gold medalists.
Interim coach Philip Snyman was full of praise for his squad, saying that the players should be given all the credit for their performance.
“We have great management, and this win was also for those back in South Africa, but the moment belongs to the players. I am so proud of them and what they achieved here today,” said Snyman.
In other events, however, it was not all smooth sailing, as Team South Africa struggled to put up a fight.
Competing in the evening session in the swimming pool, national record holder Erin Gallagher settled for 14th position in 57.90 seconds in the women’s 100m butterfly semifinals, missing out on a place in the final.
Earlier in the day, rower Paige Badenhorst kept her medal hopes alive, taking third place in her single sculls heat in 7:39.19 and booking her place in the quarterfinals to be contested on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, on the judo mat, Geronay Whitebooi also got off to a good start, beating Jacqueline Solis of Guatemala in her round of 32 match in the women’s -48kg category. But the South African judoka was defeated by Natsumi Tsunoda of Japan in the round of 16, and she was eliminated ahead of the quarterfinals.
Elsewhere, the SA men’s hockey team lost 5-3 to the world’s top-ranked side, the Netherlands, in their first pool match.
In the equestrian competition, Alexander Peternall was 56th in the individual dressage, while Johanita Scholtz lost her opening group match in the women’s badminton tournament, going down 2-0 against Korean player Kim Ga Eun.