Team South Africa

Team South Africa arrives back home!

2007-07-26T09:24:00.001+02:00

After a few last minute delays a tired but happy Team South Africa arrived back home yesterday, landing at ORTIA around 10.30am.

The eight hour charter flight also brought back the teams from Zimbabwe, Swaziland and Mozambique.

A spontaneous cheer went up inside the aircraft when it touched down, indicating that while the team enjoyed the competition in Algiers, they were very glad to be back home.

"I'm looking forward to a big mug of coffee," one team manager said, while another was looking forward to a cold beer. Coffee is only served in small espresso cups in Algeria, while beers are virtually unobtainable.

A small press conference was held at the airport, at which SASCOC president Moss Mashishi welcomed the team back and expressed is satisfaction with the team's performance.

Technorati Tags: all africa games, southafrica, algeria, algiers, south africa, sport, sports, africa

Latest news

2007-07-23T22:22:00.001+02:00

Here are two news items. First a press statement from the Chef de Mission:

As Chef de Mission of Team SA, we were surprised to learn that the athletes who were scheduled to participate in the 4x400m men’s relay final at the 9th All Africa Games, an event entered into by the athletics team management, have emerged in Monaco. The departure of the two athletes, L.J van Zyl and Alwyn Myburgh, which resulted in withdrawal from the event, was not communicated to us as management of Team SA.

After enquiring from the athletics manager, Mr. Molatelo Malehopo, it was confirmed that the athletes are indeed in Monaco. We are not satisfied with the reasons given by Mr. Molatelo Malehopo. SASCOC will institute an enquiry
into the matter upon our return to South Africa.

Hajera Kajee
Chef de Mission

** Obviously all the facts are not known yet, but doesn't this want to make you cry 'foul'?

And here's the other story: It also seems that at least one female Nigerian weightlifter was, or will be, stripped of her medal on suspicion of doping. It was in her category - 48kg- that young Portia Vries won her three medals (two silver and a bronze). However at this stage I can't find out whether this will affect Portia's medal count, hopefully I'll have an answer from the powers that be soon enough.

Farewell, Algeria

2007-07-23T22:10:00.001+02:00

The athletes of Team South Africa were yesterday treated to a farewell lunch at the Sofitel Hotel. Among the dignatories in attendance were the Deputy Minister, Mr Gert Oosthuizen, Mr Sam Ramsamy, and the South African Ambassador, Mr Moloi.

For many of the athletes, a decent meal was indeed a treat after two weeks of eating what Mr Oosthuizen called 'the equivalent of a Red Cross emergency meal'. Not that it was particularly bad, but you can only eat out of a cardboard box so many times before it loses its appeal.

So they really laid into the appetizing food, but it was well deserved. Having observed many participants from floor level - I had a press pass enabling me to see competitors first hand - I can honestly say that all participants were focused on delivering their best, and deserved equal honour, medal or no medal.

Later in the afternoon some of the athletes visited the exhibition centre where we had the 2010 expo stand, but I could see by their listlessness all that was on their minds was getting home.

We broke down the exhibition at around four in the afternoon, and there was the usual exhibition stampede of visitors trying to score the last few give-aways we had to get rid of. One of the Algerian students who were helping out at the exhibition came to us, genuinely upset but the way his countrymen were behaving. We explained that this kind of behaviour happens at all exhibitions, no matter where in the world it took place. He felt a bit better after that, but was clearly embarrassed by his fellow Algerians.

The ten laws of driving in Algiers

2007-07-23T21:45:00.001+02:00

While my driver Nounow is generally a wonderful, helpful gentleman, he turns into a maniac when he gets in behind a steering wheel. Traveling with an Algerian driver is definitely not for the squeamish, made worse by the fact that the city has no traffic lights to speak of, a total of about two stop signs, and a zillion traffic circles that each split into at least thirteen roads and become a complete mess during peak hour. Judging by their ad hoc way of driving it seems that Algerian road users simply make up the traffic rules as they go along. So to help codify the traffic regulations of Algiers I've come up with the following suggestions:

When entering a four way crossing, oncoming traffic will slow down for you.
Pass slower cars anywhere, anytime. Trust that oncoming cars will slow down enough to allow you to pass. If they don't they'll move off the road anyway.
When in a hurry, switch on emergency lights, hoot, and proceed to drive at top speed in the emergency lane.
Feel free to park people in. In turn, when you yourself are parked in, hoot continuously until the offending driver arrives.
You may come across a foreigner who is upset by your driving. Simply shake your head, and proceed to loudly voice your opinion in your unique Franco-Arabic dialect that no-one from outside Algeria understands.
Always do your utmost to jump a queue of cars.
It's OK to go up a one way street, as the oncoming traffic will move aside to let you through.
When lost, don't hesitate to stop anywhere to ask for directions. Ignore the cars hooting behind you.
Join in and play the popular traffic game called 'I can pass closer to your car than you can to mine'. I've heard the records stands at 2,35mm.
Remember there's a traffic fine for not using your hooter at least three times during a trip.
Pedestrians can appear ahead of you in the road at any given time, since 'pedestrian crossing' isn't a concept that has been discovered in Algeria yet. Do your utmost to miss them while at the same time scaring the living daylights out of them.

On the upside I must say despite the way they drive I've never seen an Algerian driver become aggressive or abusive, and the quality of the main roads and highways are excellent. But I'm really missing those polite, considerate Jo'burg drivers.

...and it's over

2007-07-23T09:22:00.001+02:00

... bar the shouting at the closing ceremony tonight.

Today is the final day of the All Africa Games, and there's only one event schedules, the final in the men's football, and South Africa isn't competing, so this is our final medal tally: 62 gold, 58 silver, and 53 bronze.

We end the Games in third place behind Egypt (74 gold) and Algeria (70), while Algeria leads the overall medals tally with 204. The athletes start departing for home today. Most of them are exhausted and tired of boxed food, so can't wait to get back to home soil.

Those traveling with the charter plane leave tomorrow night at 10pm.

I'll post something on the final goings-on and a few mental meanderings here tonight.

Good spread of medals

2007-07-22T12:48:00.001+02:00

We're still lying third behind Algeria and Egypt who are running neck in neck for the winner of the All Africa Games, but good performances were recorded in most sports today.

Have a look at the daily results on the left for a breakdown of the day's activities.

We've also compiled a medal count by sport, as of today. In a nutshell, swimming leads the field, having contributed no less than 51 medals out of a total of 169. Second best contribution was athletics, both abled and disabled, with 17 each. Notable contributions from other sports were sailing, sailing, chess, and gymnastics. Not that medal count comparison means much, as one can't really compare the team sports with individual sports, team sizes vary, and so on. Let's just say a medal's a medal!

New table tennis victory dance?

2007-07-22T00:21:00.001+02:00

I enjoy table tennis. It appeals to both the warrior and peace-lover in me. It's fast, furiously paced, and looks extremely vicious from the sidelines, but no-one gets hurt. And you're allowed to give a little war cry after each victory point. Or scream in frustration if you miss it. Kind of like instant anger management.

I watched Shane Overmeyer do a little more than the above after his win over his Egyptian opponent: At the end of the game he actually did half a backward somersault right next to the table, so elated was he about his win.

I was particularly glad to see an SABC crew interview Shane after his victory, glad because table tennis is a sport that normally gets overlooked in the mass media. So hopefully you'll see Shane at the All Africa Games on television soon!

Technorati Tags: all africa games, africa, table tennis, sport, sports, algeria, algiers, south africa, southafrica

Gymnasts add their share of medals

2007-07-22T00:08:00.001+02:00

This afternoon I attended the first day of the gymnastics competition here at the All Africa Games, and it felt like being at a school sports event. The hall was packed with Algerian kids, cheering and singing at the top of their voices, what sounded surprisingly much like those athletics songs we used to sing when I was a kid (which was quite a few years ago...). Not to mention that they almost lifted the roof when they broke into the Algerian national anthem during the medals ceremonies. It all made sense later on when Nounow, my faithful driver, told me that gymnastics was the second most popular sport in Algeria after football. It showed!

In many of the sports I've seen so far, the South Africans looked physically like the light weight kids on the block. Some African countries truly had giants in their teams. But with gymnastics I must say the Team South Africa members looked more, well, streamlined and toned than the competition.

So maybe that's why by the end of the evening they had won five medals - a gold, and two silver and bronze each to show for the their hard work in preparing for the competition.

I never got around to asking the question, but judging by their starry eyes and nervous laughter I think that for a few of the girls - most of them little tykes probably not older than fourteen or fifteen - it was their first outing on an international medals podium. It was great to see this display of pure 'opgewondenheid' - exuberance. Too many times now have I seen medals displays where the reaction of the athletes were rather blase, like, been there, done that, another day, another medal parade.

I took the last box of clappers - the promotional noise makers the guys from the 2010 marketing unit had brought along - with me to the gymnastics. When Nounow started handing them out he had to be escorted out of the hall by security, or else he was going to be stampeded by the crowds of children wanting a clapper. Thanks, brave Nounow!

Technorati Tags: all africa games, south africa, gymnastics, sport, sports, algeria, algiers, africa

Weightlifter William Ainslie in action

2007-07-21T09:30:00.001+02:00

As promised, here's some action from weightlifting.

Update: Apologies for the incorrect wording, I've corrected it now. Note you do need a broadband connection to view the video, and that those accessing this website through a goverment connection may be prevented by the official censoring system from seeing it.

Oops...

2007-07-20T23:41:00.001+02:00

It's about 10.30pm here in Algeria, or 11.30pm SA time, and I've just noticed a very, very worrying thing on the COJA website... South Africa has slipped to third place in the gold medal count with 52 medals, behind Egypt (60) and Algeria (57). Talk around the dinner table this evening didn't speak about wads of medals having been won today, so I'm hoping there's a sport code somewhere who've forgotten to send in their results. We'll know in the morning.

This is beginning to feel like Amazing Race!

** Update: Below is the medal count I received from the Team South Africa office; it's actually slightly lower than the COJA website count. However South Africa still has some spare ammunition as a few good medals are expected from rowing, while the wheelchair basketball and women's football teams are both playing in the finals.

Two sporting thoughts for the day

2007-07-20T23:16:00.001+02:00

I spent some time today at the 5th of June stadium, the venue of athletics track and field in the All Africa Games, and also the venue where the opening and closing ceremonies take place. I could ramble on about the South African athletes that took part while I was there, but you'll probably pick it up on national television and in the press anyway.

Instead, here are two impressions of sport in South African context I've had while being here, observing many different sports and talking to locals, team managers and athletes.

A common occurrence here are gasps of wonder when we explain to Algerians and others that South Africa has ten, yes, TEN venues for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, all of which can seat more than forty or fifty thousand people. Their eyes quite literally pop out when we show them the blow-up posters of the stadia we have up at the exhibition.

Algerians simply can't fathom ten stadia that big in one African country - they only have one such stadium in the whole of Algeria, which is a country not much smaller than South Africa, and one of the richest nations on the continent.

In South Africa we tend to forget how rich we in fact are in many aspects, including sport. Few developing countries in South Africa's league have ten world class stadia, or the level of technical and scientific sports support we can access locally.

We tend to compare South Africa with Australia and other industrialised nations when it comes to sport, when we should in fact be comparing ourselves with similar countries. And when we do, we'll surprise ourselves with how fortunate we are, and how much the hard work we put into sport has paid off, especially in the past ten years.

Africa's sport is up and coming

I've spoken to more team managers in more sports this past ten days than I've ever done before in such short time. The one common perception I've picked up among them is that the level of competition within Africa is improving. Sports are finding that African countries are becoming veritable opponents in sports where South Africa had been the de facto champions in the past. African championships are increasingly being held in high regard. All this is much appreciated by all sports, who are clearly hungry for a higher class competition on the continent.

If this trend continues, it could only bade well for future All African Games, and may have some kind of impact on international rankings. Keep this trend in mind for the next Games taking place in Zambia in four years' time.

Technorati Tags: all africa games, south africa, southafrica, sport, sports, africa, algeria, algiers, stadium, stadia, 2010, fifa, world cup, soccer, football

Medal avalanche

2007-07-20T11:35:00.000+02:00

Wow! Just when we were ready to get a bit jaded about how Team South Africa continues to pile up the medals, the hard working team outdoes itself, pushing up the medal count by 25% in just two days.

Most importantly they've managed to catch up to medal leaders Algeria considerably. As of this morning we're only three gold medals behind them, with Egypt still too close for comfort in third place. The latest standing puts Algeria at 52 gold medals, with South Africa on 49 and Egypt at 44.

It seems that Algeria's run of medals ran out of steam yesterday, while South Africa maintained it's run by diversifying its sources of medals to sports such as badminton, sailing, wrestling and shooting.

The best news is that there's still quite a bit of momentum left in the medal machine, with athletics and rowing two sports where major successes can still be expected.

Thanks to all who voted in the poll, looks like the overwhelming majority predicts that Team SA will win, and looking at the medal count that may just come true!

Technorati Tags: all africa games, south africa, algeria, algiers, sport, sports, medal

Rowing: Life's tough at the top

2007-07-20T10:50:00.001+02:00

After the excellent competition display we saw at weightlifting (see below) we continued our journey onwards, traveling further afield from Algiers. The dam where the rowing competition was being held is set in a beautiful landscape reminiscent of the Boland, complete with vineyards and fruit orchards. The venue features a newly built water sport centre complete with new jetty for the rowers to launch from. It's clear the Algerians had been working hard prior to the All Africa Games to ensure good facilities.

I'm not sure whether it's a water sport thing, but similar to the sailors I wrote about a few days ago, the rowers were very comfortably ensconced on the banks of the dam in the shade of a gazebo. They even had their physiotherapist in tow, therapy bed set up right there on the waterfront. I was introduced around by team manager Jean Kelly, who told me they couldn't have received better treatment anywhere else. "There were even shrimps in the paella we had last night", she said. While the wind factor on the water was a bit of a nuisance, the clean dam, clearly only recently completed - was a welcome break for some of the team from the hyasinth-invested water of the Roodeplaat dam.

Jean also introduced my to a chap that faintly resembled a modern day Viking - the Panic Mechanic (left) - who is with the German company that manufactured the team's boats, and who - hear this - drove from France in his bright red Chev van full of hi-tech tools to come and provide technical support to the rowing team. Now that's professional, having your own mechanic at hand! Most importantly, the Panic Mechanic had a fridge or two on his rig, one of which was filled with German beer, which of course made him a few instant fans in the South African team.

Looking around, Jean pointed out the boats of some of the competing teams. "Certain of their boats are wrongly rigged, something we pointed out to them and helped fix," she said. I was dumbstruck, but she just shrugged: "We're looking for a good competition, so we help them out."

Man of the moment in the team was world silver medallist Tony Paladin, who was waiting to compete in the LM class heat when I arrived. Focused and determined, he seemed quite remote from the frivolous atmosphere under the gazebo, being clearly in the 'zone' top athletes enter when competing. He finished an easy second place in the heat. "No need to push yourself in the heats since timing's not involved,' Jean explained. "A qualifier is all he needs."

Now, since my head is spinning with the technical details of about twenty different sports, I'm not going to try and interpret the results SMS Jean sent me after my faithful driver Nounow and I left to return to Algiers. I'm simply going to include it here verbatim, for the rowing guys to make of it what they want:

Shaun keeling won the M1x heat. Through to A final. Rika geyser won the W1x through to the A final. Men - lightweight and heavyweight through to A final. Tony Paladin through to rep tomorrow.

That's it. Whatever, the rowers are doing well so far. Look our for more rowing photos in the gallery.

Technorati Tags: all africa games, sport, sports, rowing, south africa, southafrica, algeria, algiers

Weightlifting

2007-07-20T10:45:00.001+02:00

Yesterday we took the coastal road to Tipasa, a coastal town in the general direction where both weightlifting and rowing are taking place. Tipasa is, at first look, sort of an Algerian version of Margate. Since the temperature here is now well over forty degrees - no kidding - most Algerians were on the beach, especially because it was 'Saturday' here.

It took a while for us to locate the weightlifting hall in a town called Bou-Ismael, but fortunately I bumped into most helpful wrestler Darryn Anthony, pictured below. After the usual infrastructure questions and answers (the food and accommodation's fine, venue's up to standard) Darryn quickly gave me a crash course in a few aspects of competitive weightlifting for me to get a basic idea of what was going on.

It was sad to see top weightlifter Babalwa Ndeleni go out early in the competition (see below). It seems there's a whole lot more to weightlifting than just two pieces of heavy iron and strong arms; and as is the case with all sport - as I've come to learn during my sojourn here at the All Africa Games - there's a whole lot of 'behind the scenes' strategy and tactic going into winning medals in the highly competitive world of international sport.

The conversation, inevitably, turned to doping, as weightlifting is a prime candidate for drug use to enhance performance. In the course of our discussion Darryn told me an interesting story: Passing one of the coaches of a competing team in the corridor, the latter turned to him and said: "I can see you're clean". Wow, what a compliment, coming from the opposition. Has he been tested at the Games? Indeed, and, of course, came through squeeky clean.

Next on was William Ainslie, taking part in the +105kg category. William is huge, there's no other description for him. He looks like he could lift a ten ton truck, no problem. You don't want to arm wrestle him, and you DON'T want to fool around with his girlfriend. His three excellent lifts however didn't ensure him a medal in the face of severe competition from Algeria, Nigeria, Egypt and Cameroon.

* Today was also the final day of the weightlifting competition, and seems the star of the show was Portia Vries, who goes home with two silver and a bronze.

Further note: I'm hoping to load a video of William's performance here if I can get the technicalities right, which should be a first for an All Africa Games I think, and probably for Algeria too.

Babalwa: Close, but no cigar

2007-07-20T10:37:00.001+02:00

So close, yet so far. Commonwealth Games weighlifting medallist Babalwa Ndeleni ( we did a feature of her in Your Sport magazine some time ago, download the article here and here) improved on her personal best today, but still a medal evaded her. The reason, according to her coach, Avenaash Pandoo, is a question of tactics. I won't bore those non-weightlifter types among you with the detail but it basically comes down to the weight a competitor starts off with (they have three lifts); the order of the competitors; and a strategic edge. The bottom line is, it's not that she was performing less well, theoretically she's still worth a medal.

Here's Babalwa, doing her second lift:

Let me lift this weight onto my shoulders...

Ups-a-daisy...

...and up...

...almost there...

Done!

Badminton at the All Africa Games sees a Wimbledon moment

2007-07-18T23:36:00.001+02:00

South Africa's top badminton player Chris Dednam might just have thought he was on centre court at Wimbledon when he took on the number one Algerian player, Rezig in a singles quarter-final game today.

The hall where the game was being played was packed with Algerian supporters who had come to watch their hero play, and from the start the supporters were loudly showing where their sympathies lie, waving flags and loudly urging their man on to victory.

Initially there were four different games on simultaneously in the adjoining courts, but it was clear from their ferocious playing style that these two were the champs, the big guys. Watching them play, I sometimes thought that they had to be psychic in order to judge the position and flight path of the blindingly fast follies across the net. Compared to the speed and agility displayed here, tennis seemed like chicken feed.

As the other games finished and the Chris's game remained the only one going on, the atmosphere in the hall gradually grew more tense as play progressed. Each successful shot the Algerian played was loudly applauded, and a deathly quiet reigned during the serves. All that was needed to make this Wimbledon was the familiar 'Quiet please!' call to silence the spectators.

Chris's opponent had the upper hand in speed, with an eye that moved like lightning and could spot three, four high speed shots in a row and return them successfully. Chris had a slight upper hand in technique, but he simply didn't have enough shots to beat his opponent. The competition was close, but in the end Chris went down 2-1.

If these two players were gladiators in Roman times, fighting it out in the ancient arenas of which the remains are still visible right here in Algeria, their style, finesse and rivalry would have pleased Caesar.

Technorati Tags: badminton, algeria, algiers, all africa games, games, sport, sports, south africa, southafrica

How to find a husband in Algeria

2007-07-18T23:07:00.001+02:00

Time for a little bit of gossip.

Beauty Mani, pictured sitting on the left, is part of the SRSA team running the 2010/SRSA exhibition at the Algiers expo centre. Being a rather pretty lady, she caught the eye of a guy (or he caught hers, I'm not sure) from the Algerian Judo stand opposite the aisle, and soon the two were chit-chatting away merrily. Next thing, she had a marriage proposal from him! Unfortunately the lobola was a bit on the high side so the poor chap couldn't afford it. But he's been plying her with all kinds of niceties, including bringing over a portable DVD player so she can watch movies!

Just as well they're keeping the South African female athletes safely locked up in the athletes village...

Media meet medallists at athletes village

2007-07-18T22:56:00.001+02:00

The Team South Africa organisers held a media update this morning at the athlete's village in Algiers. Chef de Mission Hajira Kajee gave a medal count update - South Africa's still lying second behind Algeria - after which she 'deputised' swimming champion Natalie du Toit to lead everyone present in singing Happy Birthday to Nelson Mandela, who turned 89 today.

The other occasion was to bade farewell to the swimming team who is returning home tomorrow. Besides them, most members of Team South Africa who had won medals up to now were present, and some were interviewed by the SABC crew that was on hand.

Spotted at the event:

Technorati Tags: all africa games, sport, africa, sports, south africa, southafrica, algeria, algiers

Banyana Banyana in finals

2007-07-18T21:25:00.001+02:00

The soccer ladies beat Ghana 2-0 this afternoon, and will now face the winners of today's Algeria -Nigeria match to determine the All Africa Games women's football champions.

The game started slow, and by half-time the score was still 0-0. Then late in the second half the South Africans seemed to get a burst of energy, scoring both goals in the last twenty minutes of the game.

The final is scheduled for 22 July.

Swimmers dominate the day, again

2007-07-18T09:45:00.001+02:00

The South African swimming team just cannot go wrong.

Of the twelve medals South Africa won at the All Africa Games yesterday, eleven were from swimmers, with the remaining bronze coming from wrestler Melinda Marais.

Today is the last day of swimming however, so South Africa will have to look elsewhere to continue its massive medal stride.

Algeria continues to lead the medals table, with South Africa second and Tunisia hot on its heels.

Technorati Tags: all africa games, sport, south africa, algeria, algiers

The brave wrestlers of South Africa

2007-07-17T23:40:00.001+02:00

It was a long, hot trek in afternoon peak traffic across Algiers for me and Nounow, my faithful driver to reach the hall, known as 'Salle de Hammamet' where the All Africa Games wrestling is taking place. Hot and long, but interesting, as the road runs along the bay on which Algiers is located.

Imagine the stretch of coastline between Sea Point, Bantry Bay, and Clifton in Cape Town, now add forty years of neglect to the infrastructure and you have the seaboard of Algiers. It's the most stunning coastline with crystal clear water, buildings featuring stately French architecture, and sandy beaches down below, all in a sorry state of disrepair. Sad. The bathers on the beaches seemed to be having a fine time though, and I learnt that yes, indeed, Muslim women that wear head dresses swim with them on.

Salle de Hammamet was once again one of those sauna-like halls without air conditioning. The South Africans were stoically sweating it out in a corner of one of the pavilions. 'They collect us at nine, and we get home after eight in the evening, so we're here the whole day', said team manager Anna Addinall. Ouch.

How's Algeria treating you, I asked. The wrestlers stay at the main village, and Anna said all was OK, no complaints. I asked whether she agrees with reports appearing in the South African media that allegedly athletes were 'starving'. Yes, they've heard about them, but it's not true, she simply said. 'We're doing fine, they even deliver our lunches here at the venue.'

I asked how the competition was going. 'It's tough', she said. Besides the opposition being strongly built, the team is also finding that the judges are being partial to Algeria. It's not just us complaining', she said, 'the Egyptians are unhappy too.' The situation has improved somewhat though since SASCOC board member Dave van der Merwe took up the matter with the authorities.

The final event of the day was the women's 63kg final with Melinda Marais squaring up against an Egyptian opponent for second and third places at the medals table. It was a tough fight, and unfortunately she had to settle for bronze, the second wrestling medal to be won by the South African team, but still a worthy achievement! All in all, the cheerful demeanor of the whole wrestling team seemed to say they were having fun, either way.

* For full results, see note in the left column.

Technorati Tags: all africa games, africa, southafrica, wrestling, sport, sports, algiers, algeria, games

SA swimmers continue solid performance

2007-07-17T10:03:00.001+02:00

The South Africa swimming team at the All Africa Games were still the primary contributors to the medal count yesterday. Their medal haul included five gold, three silver and a bronze medal. Other sports who won medals include kickboxing, karate, fencing, wrestling and tennis.

South Africa now has a total of 74 medals that include 29 gold. According to the official Coja website we're lying second behind Algeria.

Team matches and outcomes were:

Men's football: South Africa lost to Cameroon 2-0
Goalball: South Africa won against Rwanda 13-3
Volleyball: Men lost 0-3 to Algeria; Women won 3-0 against Ethiopia
Basketball: South Africa lost 66-70 in a closely contested match against Ivory Coast
In wheelchair basketball South Africa wiped the floor with Cameroon, beating them 107-6.

A tale of two sports, Part Two: Volleyball

2007-07-16T23:14:00.001+02:00

You'll recall that myself and Nounow, my chauffeur (that's French for 'driver', sounds nice doesn't it?) visited the sailors yesterday, and got some very positive feedback about their stay here in Algiers. Around lunchtime we left and went on to watch the volleyball game between South Africa and Ghana, where we experienced quite a different ball game, sorry for the pun.

The volleyball game was held in Blida, a dusty, hot town about 50km from Algiers. I must say the highways in this part of Algeria are superb so the trip only took about twenty minutes or so. It was nice to take a drive outside Algiers and see the countryside, listening to Nounow's Jacques Brel CDs on the way.

We were very early for the game so Nounow first treated me to a cup of mint tea at a neighbourhood cafe. We then went along to the competition hall where I had a chat with team manager Nair Donovan.

I've heard bad stories about the accommodation in Blida, where the team was staying, and Nair confirmed that things were less than perfect. Toilets were dysfunctional and the food very so-so. But despite these problems he was quite upbeat about the chances of the SA volleyball team against Ghana. "We're looking to improve our present standing of fifth in Africa, and a win here will definitely help," he said. Things have also improved markedly for South African volleyball since Egyptian coach El Wassimy Hamid came on board.

The game was being held in a sport centre that looked fairly new, but without air conditioning. Within minutes I was sweating furiously in the oven-like hall. No air conditioning may be fine for our fellow Africans up north who are used to thirty-plus temperatures but for a Jo'burg softie like me it means instant dehydration, so I spent about half the time sitting outside in the shade. I felt sorry for our team, having to play in such less-than-perfect conditions. Furthermore we noticed that some of the court floodlights weren't on, making half of the court notably darker. Despite Nair's protestations the situation wasn't rectified until about twenty minutes before the final whistle.

The game, which started almost an hour late, was a tough one from the outset, with South Africa initially taking the lead. Ghana gradually improved their game and by the third set, with South Africa leading 2-0 they were clearly putting in everything to win the set, which they did in some style. Both sides had deadly attack patterns that were virtually invincible once started, and there were few forced errors with neither side giving an inch.

Some time into the fourth set however it seemed like the Ghanese side lost faith, and South Africa won fairly easily. The final score: 3-1. All in all a fine performance by the South African side.

As we walked back to the car, Nounow mumbled in French: "Malle organisation..." - bad organisation. I didn't reply; I was thinking about the swimming pool back at the hotel.

Technorati Tags: all africa games, africa, south africa, games, sport, volleyball, algeria, algiers, blida

Comments welcome!

2007-07-16T12:53:00.001+02:00

I've adjusted the Comments section so that anyone can now comment on a story. Readers are welcome to comment on stories, as well as ask for specific information on the sports and members of Team South Africa. Journalists and other media are requested to send their queries directly to the team media liaison officer, Bilaal Hoosein at bilaal@arp.co.za, it'll speed up your query considerably.

Medals keep rolling in

2007-07-16T09:15:00.001+02:00

On the fourth day of competition, South Africa added another nineteen medals to their medal tally,to bring the total to 59. The medals were spread across a number of sports including Athletics EAD with four gold, equestrian, weightlifting, cycling, kickboxing, fencing and table tennis.

The worrying part is that the official country medal tally supposed to be released every day is confusing and contradictory. No medal tally was published in yesterday's Games paper, and the website, as of around 10am South Africa time, still reflects South Africa sitting on forty medals, tying with Tunisia and lagging far behind Algeria with 59. So 'officially' we're in second place at the Games at present.

A tale of two sports, Part One: Sailing

2007-07-16T00:02:00.001+02:00

This morning my faithful Algerian driver, Nounow and I took ourselves off to find the sailing guys and girls of Team South Africa. It took a fairly long meander through a maze of dusty streets just outside Algiers but we finally located them at the new pier built specially for the All Africa Games.

We arrived just as the Laser team were launching their boats into the water. A fair breeze was blowing, though it seemed to my untrained eye to be quite choppy and uneven. After the launch I sat down and spoke to team manager Wendy Adams about the team's experience at the All Africa Games so far.

She had nothing but glowing comments for their Algerian hosts. Their living quarters were fine, the toilets worked, and the transport was reliable. They had brand new boats to sail in, which were ready and waiting when they arrived. She reserved her best comments for the Algerian sailing federation, who has provided first class support to the team. If there were any complaints it was about the less than ideal weather conditions the team were faced with.

The sailors certainly seemed to have a nice setup going at the pier. There were umbrellas and chairs for participants to relax at, a sound system was playing Algerian pop music, and a kiosk was doing brisk business selling cold drinks and snacks. I could certainly hang out there for a day or two and soak up the Mediterranean sun...

The results, as is the case with the rest of the Games, were a little slow in being published, but she did provide me with standings of the previous day, which indicated a mixed bag of outcomes:

Laser 4.7:

1. Sam Hancock, 3. Matthew Shaw, 9. Claire Walker, whose boat capsized and injured here, resulting in two missed races.

Laser Radial:

2. Michael Bisset, Sean Thijsse, 11. Phillipa Baer

Laser Standard:

2. Gareth Blankenberg, 4. Peter Shaw

Optimist:

1. Breavan Thompson

3. Timothy Manley

4. Ashwynn Daniels

5. Michael Crosland

11. Jenny Robinson

A number of team members including Jenny Robinson, left, were plagued by stomach bugs, which accounts for some of the poor performances.

As with all the sports I speak to Wendy was coy when it came to predict medals, but she did say that sailing would definitely be adding a few to the medals tally. Due to the nature of the competition it was though difficult to judge the team's chances at this stage, since a clear winner is only determined once the competition ends.

** Look out for Part Two: Volleyball tomorrow. Let's just say for the moment South Africa trounced Ghana 3-1. Here's a nice report about the game.

Technorati Tags: all africa games, southafrica, sport, africa, algiers, algeria, sailing, optimist

Team South Africa medal count doubles

2007-07-15T10:03:00.001+02:00

Well, just about! Yesterday our medal count was 22, and this morning's regular update, drawn up by colleague Bilaal Hoosein says we're sitting on FORTY! I think it may not be reason to sit back and relax however. I looked at the All Africa Games website, which is perpetually late in being updated, and that claims that Tunisia is in fact beating us by one medal - 28 to 29. So obviously Tunisia is hot on the heels of South Africa.

So far we've been relying very strongly on the excellent performance of the South African swimmers, so it was good to see a good batch of medals contributed by sport for the disabled and kickboxing, and cycling.

Note: We're not yet able to publish full results by sport due to a lack of resources, but hope to do that soon. In the meantime we're posting the daily results, see the link top left.

How's your Arabic?

2007-07-15T09:47:00.001+02:00

One of the problems we're experiencing here in Algiers is availability of information. Intil recently the All Africa Games website at www.coja2007.dz was only partially being updated so we have to rely on other rexourses such as the Games newspaper, 'El Dzazair'. However, they only publish the medals standing in Arabic, even though the newspaper as a whole is tri-lingual. So in order for you to improve your Arabic we publish here the second day's medal standings as it was clipped from the newspaper, together with a hopefully readable translation. Remember Arabic is written from right to left, so the first column is Gold.

Technorati Tags: all africa games, southafrica, south africa, sport, medal, arabic, medas table

Medal hunt continues: 22 and counting

2007-07-14T11:23:00.001+02:00

It was another day of gold for South Africa at the swimming pools in Algiers.

Team SA continued it’s domination of the waters and struck gold early with a victory in the 50m butterfly by Amanda Loots. The South African women continued their exceptional performance when Melissa Corfe won gold in the 200m freestyle and also set a new All Africa Games record. Suzanne van Biljon then went on to win another gold in the 200m breast .

Team SA’s men, not to be out-done grabbed 2 gold medals of their own when Riaan Schoeman struck gold with a brilliant swim in the 400m IM. He also set a new All Africa Games (AAG) record.

The second gold came in the hotly contested 4x200m men’s relay, where Riaan Schoeman, Darian Townsend, Jean Basson and George Durand obliterated their opponents. The only team who really put up a fight in this event, right to the end, were Algerians, but the South African swimmers kept ahead and managed to edge them out at the finish. They also set a new AAG record.

Jean Basson won a silver medal in his 200m freestyle event whilst Jessica Pengelly also took silver in 200m breast stroke. That’s a total of eight medals for the swimmers on the second day of competition.

In judo, Matthew Jago did very well to win bronze against Ivory Coast. In fencing, we had another medal today when Jared New won bronze in the men’s epee.

In summary, Team SA won a total of 10 medals today bringing the total medal tally to 22.

The South African men’s under 23 football squad played exceptionally well beating Ghana 2-0.

Technorati Tags: all africa games, southafrica, algiers, algeria, sport, africa, swimming

The chess girls

2007-07-14T01:11:00.001+02:00

I haven't played chess since I was eight years old. The last time I played, I lost so badly to a sadistic uncle of mine that I couldn't bear to face a chess board ever again.

That was until today.

Well, fortunately it wasn't me facing the chess board, but four of South Africa's best female chess players. There they were, seated in a row in a rather bleak university class room, separated from their Egyptian opponents only by a beige chess board and a digital timekeeping clock. All four were probably half my age (or less), but evidently blessed with ten times my courage, since they've risen through the ranks of South African chess to make it to a continental championship.

There was little evidence of frayed nerves among the team; no nervous twitches or fiddling hands, just a sense of resolute anticipation and concentration. A few minutes after taking their places the start signal was given and four brains sharpened in the cunning, strategy, deception and tactical analysis that makes chess the game that scared an eight year old witless many years ago sprang into action.

It was interesting to watch the games unfold as each player revealed her own characteristic methodology of playing. After a while I caught on to the style of young Melissa Greeff, who displayed a particularly cunning and aggressive approach. Attack was obviously her way of getting things done, and her relaxed body language and self-assured demeanor suggested that she was reveling in anticipation of her opponent falling into an elegant, masterful trap she has set. And that's exactly the way it happened - while the other players were still cautiously picking off pawns and cornered horses, her opponent suddenly looked up, stuck out her hand, and after a brief handshake got up and slunk away. This display of in-for-the-kill from a petite youngster who sat behind me on the airplane on the way here, peacefully curled up and sleeping like a pixie throughout the whole journey.

By the time I had to leave, three games were complete, with two of them going to South Africans. I salute these four ladies: Melissa, Anzel Solomons, Denise Frick, and Jenine Ellapen. They're much, much braver than me.

** I also found out how chess is played in northern Africa: With copious amounts of espresso at your side. The organisers even had an official assigned to plying the Egyptian team with small cups of syrupy coffee. Interesting. Obviously espresso is not a prohibited substance in the world of chess doping...

Technorati Tags: chess, all africa games, africa, southafrica, sport, algeria

Swimming nets SA another eight medals

2007-07-13T23:31:00.001+02:00

On the second day of competition, the Team SA swimmers hauled in another eight medals to add to the twelve earned on the first day of the All Africa Games.

The eight medals consists of five gold, two silver, and a bronze.

Exhibition stand up and running!

2007-07-13T14:13:00.001+02:00

The SRSA/2010 FIFA World Cup stand is finally up and running. We were allocated a LOT more space than we anticipated, thank you Ester and Beauty for bringing along so many banners!

Well, it's up, now just to get it running.

Today is 'Sunday' here - Thursday and Friday is weekend. So things are quiet, the shops are closed, the daily newspaper didn't arrive... it's like South Africa in the seventies. So the only people at the exposition centre (much like Nasrec) where we've set up the exhibition are other exhibitors busy setting up their stands. No visitors in evidence yet.

There are two halls with stands in: We're in the one which can be labeled 'general' with stands ranging from tourism services to insurance and soccer table sales companies. It doesn't look like any other countries participating in the AAG has thought of exhibiting sport per se. The other hall consists of curios, clothing, basically an extended Rosebank Flea Market with a distinctly north African flavour. All very interesting, with lots of desert people in evidence. There's even a Bedouin tent erected in the parking lot outside. I'll probably pop in for some tea sometime...

Medal count off to a flying start

2007-07-12T22:37:00.001+02:00

On the first day of the competition it sounded like a fruit machine in a casino that had hit the jackpot here in Algiers, as the medals started rolling in with the swimmers taking top honours, contributing ten of the twelve medals won.

Team SA put on a scintillating performance on the first official day of competition at the All Africa Games in Algeria. In swimming, both men and women displayed exceptional stealth and stamina dominating the medals table by taking 4 gold, 3 silver and 3 bronze. In fencing, Rachel Barlow did her country proud by winning bronze in the epee’. In judo, Mariska Loots did remarkably well in the 70kg category to win a bronze medal amidst fierce competition. Team SA’s performance was truly exceptional winning twelve medals in total: four gold, three silver, and five bronze. In the other sporting codes South African also made a good showing.

In addition Cameron van der Burgh set a new AAG record in the men's 100m breaststroke.

Other results were mixed with wins in tennis, chess, and boxing while the basketball team lost 59-65 against Algeria.

Technorati Tags: all africa games, sport, southafrica, swimming, algeria, algiers, south africa, medal

All Africa Games programme

2007-07-12T10:37:00.001+02:00

Today - the 12th - is the day many sports kick off their competitions. Sports like boxing, basketball, fencing, football, judo, swimming, table tennis, taekwondo, chess, and kick boxing will be facing opponents. There's a daily programme available here (PDF download). We'll be posting results hopefully tonight.

Algeria pulls out all the stops during opening ceremony

2007-07-12T02:53:00.001+02:00

Everyone of the more than 50 000 spectators who attended the opening ceremony of the All Africa Games would agree that hosts Algeria pulled out all the stops to make it entertaining and fun. It was colourful, loud, boisterous, and the Algerians were out in their thousands to watch the spectacle together with the teams from the African countries that are participating.

South Africa - or Afrique du Sud, as it is most often referred to around here - was first to enter the stadium. They got a good round of applause from the spectators. They were then followed by a long list of participating countries. Notably absent was Somalia, Sudan, and Malawi. Most of the North African countries had fairly large contingents.

It was only after we left the stadium that most of us heard that a bomb had gone off in a distant, remote part of Algeria. It certainly had no effect on the successful conclusion of the opening ceremony. Security is extremely strict in Algiers and one gets the impression that the hosts are doing everything in their power to protect and safeguard the participants.

A day in the life...

2007-07-12T02:50:00.001+02:00

Earlier today I paid a visit to the main village where most members of Team SA are staying. The complex is brand new - as most games villages are - and from afar looked quite neat and up to standard. The buildings housing teams are multi-storey apartment blocks that, I gather, will double as university dorms after the games. Inside the normal activities of a team in preparation for their first outings onto the field tomorrow was evident - athletes relaxing in their rooms or working on their kit, medical personnel attending to aches and pains (nothing serious though, strictly routine stuff); and admin personnel busily organising and managing logistics. There was a sense of anticipation in the air, an almost businesslike, no-nonsense atmosphere. The athletes I spoke to seemed prepared and ready to start their campaigns.

The only sour note - to put it that way - was that the team was unhappy with the available food and decided to obtain the services of outside caterers to make sure the team got up to standard, nutritious food. I had a look in the restaurant during lunch, and I'm not expert dietician but I don't consider white bread rolls and steak food to eat when preparing for a continental competition.

Plucky SA goes down 2-1 to Tunisia

2007-07-11T01:15:00.001+02:00

They weren't the best side on the field, but South Africa still put up a brave performance under difficult circumstances. They lost 2-1 to Tunisia, and will now face Ghana in their next game on the 13th.

Ambassador Moloi welcomes Team South Africa to Algeria

2007-07-11T00:43:00.001+02:00

Last night was the Ambassador's welcoming function. It was quite a big affair held at the rather grand Sofitel hotel in downtown Algiers. The troops were looking splendid in their cream suits and it seemed that most of them were enjoying their sojourn in Algiers so far in spite of teething problems at some of the athlete villages. Douglas Green supplied South African wine for the event, and Algerian wine was served as well. Being a true wine loving South African and therefore hardly impartial, I'll reserve judgement on which was the best wine, but let's just say there was early in the party there was no Douglas Green left...

After the Ambassador, HE Mr R S Moloi and Minister of Sport and Recreation, Rev Makhenkesi Stofile's addresses, the guests were entertained by a troop of dancers and musicians, ably organised by the Department of Arts and Culture. Their lively and energetic show was so attractive that even the waiters, catering staff, and security stopped their work for a while to gather round and watch the show.

Tomorrow evening is the opening night of the All Africa Games, with all competitions starting in earnest the day after.

Women's soccer: South Africa draws against Nigeria

2007-07-09T23:49:00.001+02:00

In the first match of South Africa's All Africa Games campaign, the women's soccer side drew 2-2 against Nigeria.

South Africa is in Group One together with Ethiopia and Mozambique.

The SA side now has to win two more games to be number one in the group. Nigeria is considered the strongest side in the group, so this is indeed a strong possibility.

South Africa's next opponent will be Mozambique, whom they will face on 12 July.

* For a full report of the match, look at www.srsa.gov.za.

Technorati Tags: all africa games, women's football, women's soccer, algeria, south africa, nigeria, sport

On the way.... well, almost...

2007-07-09T10:02:00.001+02:00

Saturday's planned departure of Team South Africa to Algeria didn't quite happen.

The departure was delayed a number of times during the course of the day, until the final time of departure was announced - 10.30am on Sunday. Apparently the charter plane scheduled to ferry Team South Africa was delayed due to technical problems,and the crew (understandably) has to rest before setting off again, and therefore the substantial delay.

Checking in at ORTIA went OK. Standing around waiting at the check-in desk, it was interesting to listen to the conversations of other travellers speculating about where all the 'kids' were travelling to. They probably speculated even more when they saw the heaps and heaps of energy drinks being checked in as well...

I'm writing this post as I'm sitting the departure lounge. The time is 11.05am, so our departure is about one and a half hours late.

I wonder if the pilot overslept...

Also hanging around in the lounge are the teams from Mozambique, Swaziland, and Zimbabwe. They seemed to be hitching a ride on the same plane we're on. They're also helping to cover costs, SASCOC tells me.

All the athletes in their smart green and yellow track suits seem quite upbeat and patient with the situation. For many of the young members of Team South Africa, travelling to Algiers will be their first time in an airplane, never mind going abroad, so they don't have the same jaded look on their faces as many other older and more seasoned travellers in the waiting lounge have.

UPDATE #1: 12.05pm: We're finally leaving! The airplane is a rather rundown Lockheed MD11, but it'll get us there. I speak to several officials who are all upbeat about the team's gold potential at the Games, but are disappointed at the no-show of South Africa's swimming 'dream team'. The only worry about the delayed departure was that on Monday - tomorrow - the women's soccer team had a game on and may not be able to acclimatise in time to be able to put in a good effort. It was generally accepted that infrastructure, in particular the water supply in the various dormitories the athletes will be staying at, will be a challenge.

UPDATE #2: 3:15am Landed safely at Algiers Airport some time after 10p m. Collecting and sorting of the mountains of luggage and supplies took forever. The last officials left the airport long after two in the morning. Security is tight -all foreign participants had to leave in police convoys and police blockades are evident along the road.

It's now just past 4am, I'm off to bed.

It's seems like yesterday...

2007-07-06T10:07:00.001+02:00

...that a few colleagues of mine from the SASC joined the athletes at the 2003 All Africa Games in Abuja. And now its almost time for the next Games! Team South Africa and their support staff are leaving tomorrow (7th) for Algiers, Algeria, where they'll be competing in the ninth edition of the All Africa Games. Keep an eye on this blog - I'll be reporting from behind-the-scenes in Algiers and hope to keep everyone back in South Africa up to date with what Team South Africa is up to.