CASABLANCA – There was more cycling glory for the South African team at the African Games in Morocco, with Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio and Ryan Gibbons claiming the men’s and women’s individual time trial golds.
Moolman-Pasio recorded a time of 38:16.90 to finish the 28km course well ahead of teammate Zanri Rossouw, who collected the silver in 40:12.10.
It was also a one-two in the men’s event, with Gibbons taking gold in 46:50.34, while Kent Main took silver after completing the 38km course in 47:13.62.
SA’s only tennis player at the event, Chanel Simmonds, claimed another victory in the women’s singles, beating Morocco’s Rania Azziz in straight sets, 6-2 6-1, to progress to the semi-finals.
“I played very well today. My opponent was very young and I used my experience to stay solid and consistent and she got frustrated and made a lot of errors,” said Simmonds.
“I’m feeling more confident on the clay, and I felt that I improved a lot today. My movement is smoother, which allows me to be more prepared behind the ball.”
Meanwhile, following on from the mixed team bronze, there was plenty of success for the SA badminton players.
Ruan Snyman beat Roman Razaki of Benin in the first round of the men’s singles 2-0, and then later went on to beat Estifanose Abay 2-1 in the second round.
%%%twitter https://twitter.com/hashtag/TeamSA?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#TeamSA🇿🇦 Women’s & Men’s GOLD & SILVER Winners - Individual Time Trial Champions #AfricanGames @ashleighcycling @ZanriRos @RyanGibbons23 @kentmain @TeamSA19 @Cycling_SA @In_the_Bunch @intocyclingsa #SupportSATalent pic.twitter.com/lm356ZcwD8
— TeamSouthAfrica (@TeamSA19)
Jarred Elliott beat Davis Antony Ssenono of Uganda 2-0, but SA’s Jason Mann went down to Youcef Sabri Medel of Algeria by the same margin.
In the women’s singles, Megan de Beer beat Tunisia’s Fatma Hachani 2-0 and Johanita Scholtz beat Malak Ouchefoune of Algeria 2-0.
The SA athletics team got their campaign under way with the first day of morning heats.
Several SA athletes won their respective heats in the sprints, with more action scheduled for later on Monday night.