SOUTH AFRICA'S COMMONWEALTH GAMES TEAM HAS BEEN ANNOUNCED
As the Commonwealth Games approaches, South African athletes are gearing up for some tough competition. SAs athletes compete in 16 codes, including para-sports athletics, lawn bowls, swimming, table tennis and powerlifting. The 16 codes consist of athletics, badminton, bowls, boxing, cycling (mountain bike, road, track), gymnastics, hockey, netball, rugby sevens, shooting, table tennis, triathlon, weightlifting and wrestling. The men's sevens rugby team will only be announced at the end of February.
Women's seven's rugby will also include a South African team. SASCOC president released a statement after the announcement of the athletes chosen to compete saying: "As SASCOC we're very excited to deliver this team for the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games. Many hours of planning have gone into preparing this team. You will see that it's a great blend of experience and raw talent and I'm confident we'll once again be right up there with the cream of Commonwealth countries and looking to improve on our seventh place on the medals table in Glasgow four years ago. I urge every athlete to go to Australia and be the very best athlete they can be and fly the rainbow nation's flag high."
The selection process resulted in a diverse team with the Aquatics team consisting of the two youngest members of the team, Luan Grobbelaar and Dune Coetzee, both aged 15. The oldest member of the team, lawn bowler, Princess Schreuder, aged 67.
The team consists of:
AQUATICS:
Swimming:
Women: Erin Gallagher, Tatjana Schoenmaker, Dune Coetzee, Kate Beavon, Kaylene Corbett, Emily Visagie, Marlies Ross, Nathania van Niekerk, Kristin Bellingan, Mariella Venter and Emma Chelius
Men: Ayrton Sweeney, Cameron van der Burgh, Chad le Clos, Jarryd Baxter, Brad Tandy, Brent Szurdoki, Martin Binedell, Ryan Coetzee, Eben Vorster, Luan Grobbelaar, Calvyn Justus and Michael Houlie
Para-swimming: Christian Sadie, Kaleb van der Merwe
Diving: Nicole Gillis, Micaela Bouter, Julia Vincent
ATHLETICS:
Women: Caster Semenya, Sunette Viljoen and Wenda Nel
Men: Akani Simbine, Antonio Alkana, Constant Pretorius, LJ van Zyl, Lebogang Shange, Wayne Snyman, Luvo Manyonga, Ruswahl Samaai, Phil-Mar Janse van Rensburg and Breyton Poole
PARA-ATHLETICS:
Women: Juanelie Meijer
Men: Ndodomzi Ntutu, Hilton Langenhoven, Dyan Buis, Charl du Toit, Union Sekailwe, Reinhardt Hamman and Juanre Jenkinson
BADMINTON:
Women: Elsie de Villiers, Johanita Scholtz and Michelle Butler-Emmett
Men: Bongani von Bodenstein, Cameron Coetzer and Prakash Vijayanath
BOXING: Siyabulela Mphongoshi and Sinethemba Blom.
CYCLING:
Road:
Women: Ashleigh Moolman Pasio
Men: Willie Smit, Nicholas Dlamini, Clint Hendricks and Brendon Davids
Track:
Women: Charlene du Preez, Elfriede Wolfaardt, Ilze Bole, Danielle van Niekerk and Adelia Neethling
Men: Steven van Heerden, Nolan Hoffmann, David Maree, Joshua van Wyk and Gert Fouchè
Mountain biking:
Women: Mariske Strauss and Cherie Redecker
Men: Alan Hatherly
HOCKEY:
Women: Phumelela Mbande, Nicole la Fleur, Erin Hunter, Nicole Walraven, Lisa-Marie Deetlefs, Celia Evans, Nicolene Terblanche, Shelley Jones, Quanita Bobbs, Kristen Paton, Ilse Davids, Stephanie Baxter, Ongeziwe Mali, Dirkie Chamberlain, Candice Manuel, Sulette Damons, Jade Mayne and Bernadette Coston
Men: Gowan Jones, Siyavuya Nolutshungu, Daniel Bell, Jethro Eustice, Gareth Heyns, Tyson Dlungwana, Austin Smith, Daniel Sibbald, Timothy Drummond, Reza Rosenburg, Ryan Julius, Owen Mvimbi, Clinton Panther, Nqobile Ntuli, Abdud--Dayaan Cassiem, Keenan Horne, Tevin Kok and Ryan Crowe
LAWN BOWLS:
Women: Elma Davis, Esme Kruger, Nicolene Neal, Colleen Piketh and Johanna Snyman
Men: Gerald Baker, Petrus Breitenbach, Jason Evans, Josephus Jacobs and Morgan Muvhango
PARA-LAWN BOWLS:
Women: Princess Schroeder
Men: Tobias Botha, Willem Viljoen, Christopher Patton and Philippus Walker
NETBALL:
Bongiwe Msomi, Karla Pretorius, Erin Burger, Izette Griesel, Maryka Holtzhausen, Danelle Lochner, Phumza Maweni, Precious Mthembu, Shadine van der Merwe, Ine-Mari Venter, Zanele Vimbela and Lenize Potgieter
RUGBY SEVENS:
Women: Nadine Roos, Eloise Webb, Unathi Mali, Rights Mkhari, Zintle Mpupha, Veroeshka Grain, Zenay Jordaan, Marithy Pienaar, Mathrin Simmers, Christelene Steinhobel, Chane Stadler and Zinthle Ndawonde
Men: To be announced end of February
SHOOTING:
Bartholomeus Pienaar, Pierre Basson, Arno Haasbroek and Andre du Toit
TRIATHLON:
Women: Gillian Sanders and Simone Ackermann.
Men: Richard Murray, Henri Schoeman and Wian Sullwald
WEIGHTLIFTING:
Johanni Taljaard, Mona Pretorius and Celestie Engelbrecht
PARA-POWER LIFTING:
Ricardo Fitzpatrick
WRESTLING:
Jan Louwrens Combrinck, Terry van Rensburg, Johannes Botha, Michael Gaitskill and Martin Erasmus.
PARA-TABLE TENNIS:
Theo Cogill
Team announcement as per: https://www.sport24.co.za/OtherSport/South-Africa/sa-squad-named-for-commonwealth-games-20180130