South Africa picks up 2 medals in swimming

Team South Africa have got their medals tally off to a flying start on the opening day of competition at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi by earning two medals in swimming events.

(Click here to see Day 1 medals tally)

Durban matric pupil Chad Le Clos won the country’s first medal of the competition with victory on the 200m butterfly.

Swimming in lane two Le Clos burst through from nowhere in the final lap to touch first, upstaging a field that included teammate Sebastien Rousseau and England swimmers Paul Rock and Peter Roebuck.

The 18-year-old Le Clos, who competed in his first European galas only last year, was well out of the top three throughout the race, although Rouseau was third going into the final turn.

The South African 4x100m freestyle relay team earned bronze.

The relay team, victors at the 2006 Games in Melbourne, were beaten into third place by Australia and England, but they at least ensured a relay medal for SA for the third successive Games. They won silver in Manchester 2002.

8 SA swimmers set for Commonwealth Games

Three more swimmers achieved qualifying times for the 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi in October on the fifth day of the Telkom South Africa Swimming Senior National Championships yesterday.

Darian Townsend (KZN) and Sebastien Rousseau (WP) fought out a closely contested final of the men’s 200m individual medley with Townsend always in the driving seat to win in 2:00.10 and Rousseau’s 2:01.01 was also good enough to beat the target time of 2:01.40.

Gideon Louw also qualified with a semi-final winning time of 22.34 in the 50m freestyle, to bring the total to eight swimmers altogether.

Both Roland Schoeman, in the 50m free semi-finals, and Wendy Trott, in the 400m freestyle, also achieved qualifying times but they had earlier qualified in the 50m butterfly and 800m freestyle respectively.

It was the busiest night of the week-long championships, with no less than nine senior finals (four male and five female), eight disabled finals and four youth finals making for 21 finals in all.

But it took some time before the crowd began to have something to cheer about, the opening four races, all senior finals, failing to produce any spectacular performances.

The first two CG qualifying times to be achieved were both in the men’s semi-finals of the 50m freestyle with the target set at 22.35.

Louw (NT) scraped under it by 0.01 second in 22.34 in the first heat and then it was the turn of Schoeman to cap it with a splendid swim of 22.16 that put him at the top of the list of qualifiers for Saturday’s final.

Challenging Schoeman and Louw will be Graeme Moore, Werner Bosman, Gregor Widmer, Donaven van der Merwe, Jason Lawson, Greg Kieck and Nico Meyer.

The dependable Trott was in a class of her own in the women’s 400m freestyle final as she cruised to victory in 4:08.57, just 0.19 second off her own national record of 4:08.38 at the Beijing Olympics wearing a fast suit.

But her time was also good enough to earn her a second qualifying time for this year’s Games to go with the 800m free she claimed on Thursday.

Townsend had earlier taken the 100m butterfly final by the scruff of the neck with his aim more to gain a place in the men’s 4 x 100m medley relay at the forthcoming Games than with the intention of eclipsing the Games qualifying time of 52.86.

Pushed all the way by his KZN teammate, Chad le Clos, Townsend hit the pads in 53.40, Le Clos in 53.53 with Gauteng’s Neil Watson also in the mix in 53.53.73.

Cameron van der Burgh (NT) captured his second breaststroke title of the meet, adding the 50m to the 100m he won on Wednesday, but exactly three- tenths of a second slower than the Games QT with a time of 27.93.

Donaven van der Merwe (KZN, 28.67) was second and Giulio Zorzi (NT, 28.78) third.

At least four swimmers in the men’s 100m backstroke final were seeking a qualifying time, Charl van Zyl, Ricky Ellis, Darren Murray and Gerhard Zandberg.

But Van Zyl’s winning time of 55.73 just missed the QT of 55.14 with the other three times even slower.

Karin Prinsloo was slow off the blocks at the start of the 50m free but still managed to outperform her Northern Tigers teammate, Vanessa Mohr, to win in 26.29, Mohr finishing in 26.73 and Jo-Mari van Zyl (CG, 27.11) third.

It was a double for Prinsloo after her success in the 100m free on Wednesday.

There was a blanket finish in the 100m breaststroke final, only 0.31 second separating the first three finishers, Taryn Mackenzie (CG, 1:12.20), Ronwyn Roper (KZN, 1:12.42) and Marguerite van Zyl (CG, 1:12.51) all clustered together at the timing pads.

But the title went to Mackenzie as did the 50m breast on Tuesday, but in too slow a time for a Games qualifier (1:09.01).

Mandy Loots put up another good performance to win the 200m backstroke in 2:14.88 going away from Jessica Ashley-Cooper (2:16.30) and Natasha de Vos (2:17.28).

Chanelle van Wyk swam a slower time in the final of the 50m backstroke than she did in getting a QT on Thursday evening, but took the title in 29.28 from Prinsloo (29.41) and Ashley- Cooper (29.62).

Hockey World cup: Pool B: 6-Mar-2010

England have emerged stars amongst 6 team in Pool B of 2010 Hockey World Cup, while India was third team to be eliminated of the group after South Africa and Pakistan.

England scored their fourth straight win. The team has secured all 12 points from four matches.

The second semi final spot is all but decided with Aussies booking the berth.

The standings after third leg of league matches is as follows:

Hockey World Cup: England defeats South Africa

England recorded their second successive win in the men's field hockey World Cup (FIH) with a 6-4 thriller against South Africa on Tuesday.

Click here: Watch India vs Australia live.

The European champions, who had stunned hot favourites Australia in their first match, edged past the South Africans in a game where both sides suffered defensive lapses.

Richard Mantell scored two penalty corners, while Rob Moore, Ashley Jackson, Nick Catlin and Iain Mackay chipped in with a goal each for England.

Marvin Harper scored twice for South Africa, and Lloyd Norris-Jones and Thornton McDade netted one each.

The first 25 minutes produced four goals as South Africa and England took turns to take the lead, before the two sides took the break deadlocked at 2-2.

England scored thrice in quick succession when play resumed to make it 5-2, before Harper reduced the margin for the Africans. Two more goals ensued -- one from either side -- before the final whistle.

It was the first time in World Cup history that England pumped in six goals in a single match. They had scored five against Pakistan in 1998, but still lost the match as their rivals netted seven.

"Scoring six goals means a lot and I am happy with the win, but we were not consistent enough," said England captain Barry Middleton.

"We should have played well throughout the 70 minutes, but we did not do that against the South Africans. Our defence was not up to the mark.

"We have a tough game against Pakistan on Thursday and really need to work on our game," he said.

South African captain Austin Smith said his team made the same mistakes as they did in the 2-4 loss against Spain.

"We competed well in the first half and I was delighted with the 2-2 scoreline," said Smith. "But we let ourselves down in the second half.

"England were very good after the break and scored too many goals. We were left chasing the equaliser which was not easy against a quality team like England."

SA's Elizna quits job to defend Commonwealth Games title

South African discus queen Elizna Naude thinks that she will find it tough to retain her Commonwealth Games title in Delhi in October, and is doing everything she can to defend the title. And to focus more strongly on her athletics, Naude has taken unpaid leave from her job as a teacher.

"To win the Commonwealth Games title I've got to beat the world champion," she said, referring to Australia's Dani Samuels, who finished third at the previous Games in Melbourne 2006.

Naude won with a throw of 61.55m, with Seema Antil of India heaving 60.56m and Samuels 59.44m.

"I was lucky because my main rivals didn't throw their best," admitted Naude, who picked up a career-threatening back injury in 2007 that has hampered her performances since. At the Beijing Olympics she fell far short of her personal best of 64.87m, which would have won gold.

"At this stage I'm the best I've been in three years," said Naude, who will compete in the Yellow Pages series from next month before heading to Europe in May.

"This is my make-or-break year. I'm 31, though that's young for discus."

She and her athletic colleagues have been in camp at the high-performance centre in Pretoria, the first of its kind since Athletics SA's leadership was suspended by the national Olympic body late last year.

Naude is relishing the opportunity of returning to battle.

"I need to defend my title. I didn't sleep the night when I won the Commonwealth Games title in 2006. It's an awesome feeling."

"I've got a DVD of five of my throws and the medal presentation, and whenever I feel down I play it."

Commonwealth Games Baton reaches Swaziland

The Queen's Baton Relay has reached the Kingdom of Swaziland, South Africa.

The Commonwealth Games Delhi 2010 Queen's Baton Relay arrived at the capital city of Swaziland, the Mbabane after a two day stop over at Lesotho.

Mbabane, along with Manzini, the largest and main industrial hub, extended a warm welcome to the first baton-bearer for the day, Mr. Robert Magagula, the President of the Commonwealth Games Association (CGA). Hundreds of people cheered the baton on the streets of Swaziland as they carried the Baton past the landmarks that dot the streets of Manzini and Mbabane.

The Kingdom of Swaziland is a small country to the east of Southern Africa. Bounded to its east by Mozambique, South Africa shares the rest of landlocked Swaziland's borders.

The economy is dominated by the service industry, manufacturing and agriculture. Swaziland joined the Commonwealth in 1968 and made its debut in the 1970 Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh, to boast a record thereafter, of fielding its sporting prowess in each and every edition of the Games.

Swaziland's first medal came at the 1974 Games in Christchurch when Richard Mabuza picked up a bronze for clocking 2 hrs 12 minutes 54.4 seconds in the men's marathon. In the last edition of the Games in Melbourne in 2006, Simanga Shiba took home a boxing Bronze Medal in the men's light flyweight class. The Swaziland National Olympic Committee was established in 1974 and is responsible for their country's participation at the Commonwealth Games.

The relay passed through the Old Trade Fair Gate, the Mahhala Complex, the Coronation Park, the Mananga Training Centre and the Olympafrica Centre in Manzini and Mbabane. Mrs. Vickey Nxumalo, Deputy Mayor of the Old Trade Fair region and Mr. Sibusio Dlamini, Honourable Member of Parliament were among the batonbearers. One of the highlights of the day was the traditional singing and dancing performance - Ummiso and Sibhaca, and a gymnastics display by three teams.

Queen's baton reaches South Africa

The Ministry of Tourism of India organized an Incredible India road show in Johannesburg, South Africa on Tuesday. The event coincided with the passing of the Queen's Baton to promote the Commonwealth Games 2010 to be held in New Delhi

Ten double decker buses were wrapped in Incredible India images and flagged off by M Mashabane, Minister of International Relation and Cooperation, Government of South Africa along with Vikram Doraiswamy, Consul General of India and T.S. Darbari, Joint Director General, Commonwealth Games Organizing Committee.

This event was followed by presentations on Incredible India, the Commonwealth Games, a taste of Indian, music and dance.

Mashabane complemented on this mega promotion and spoke highly of India- South Africa relations and India's tourism products.

More than 200 people from various walks of life were present at the event.

Meanwhile, prior to the event at Johannesburg, legendary Archbishop, Desmond Tutu became the Baton bearer when the Baton Relay 2010 Delhi had reached Bloemfontein in South Africa.

The Queen's Baton had been received at the airport by Dan-Kgothule, Minister of Sports and Executive Mayor with representatives from ministries of sports and culture.

After the staging of cultural performances, the Baton was handed over to the executive mayor for the relay in Bloemfontein where it saw the participation of about 300 baton bearers and enthusiastic response from hundreds of citizens.

2010 Sports mega event and Tourism conference in SA

Travel and Tourism sector has emerged as one of the 21st century's critical drivers of economic growth, job creation, and development of communities, regions, and nations. The "Tourism Economy," a vital source of employment, revenue, investment, trade, and unity, has recently been recognized as a powerful stimulus for recovery from the global economic crisis.

As a reflection of the importance of the travel and tourism sector to unlock the growth potential of nations and the role of major sporting, business, and cultural events to re-inspire tourists to travel to global destinations, the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UN WTO) and the South African Government announced on October 30, 2009 that the T&T world's first international Tourism, Sport, and Mega-events Summit will be held in Sandton, South Africa from February 24-26, 2010.

The summit will provide a forum for active discussion, debate, and direction around the leverage of mega-events as a vital force for sector growth and advancement in national development strategies.

A number of major global events will be held in 2010, including the FIFA World Cup in South Africa, the Commonwealth Games in India, the World Exhibition in Shanghai, and the Winter Games in Canada.

With this taken into consideration, the UNWTO seeks to align the global Travel and tourism sector's leadership to create a framework for leveraging sport and other mega-events (including cultural and entertainment events, exhibitions, and business conventions) for economic growth. This process must take into account the economic, social, and environmental consequences for host nations and the massive multimedia opportunities for nation branding and export promotion.

South Africa's Department of Tourism and Department of Sport, as well as CNN International as a global media partner, will be working in partnership with the UN WTO.

As stated by Dr. Taleb Rifai, Secretary General of the UN WTO: "This important meeting reflects the increasing economic and social impacts of sport, mega-events, and tourism. It will establish new lines of thinking on operations, economics, and sustainability. We are delighted to be working with South Africa - particularly in 2010 which will see a great sporting mega-event in the FIFA World Cup, which promises so much for Africa."

The summit will be held parallel to the annual Meetings Africa, Africa's top business tourism exhibition hosted annually by South African Tourism.