SWIMMING NEWS - The South African swimming team opened the aquatics programme of the 12th African Games in a spectacular fashion, claiming ten medals (six gold, two silver and two bronze) in Casablanca, Morocco, on Wednesday night.
Michael Houlie kicked off the evening session with a gold medal winning performance in the 50m breaststroke, posting 27.41 ahead of Egypt’s Youssef Elkamash in 27.52 and Tunisia’s Wassim Elloumi in 28.27.
Martin Binedell won himself a gold medal in the 200m backstroke with a time of 2:01.38 followed by Algeria’s Abdellah Ardjoune in 2:02.73 and Egypt’s Yassin Elshamaa in 2:05.77.
Binedell bagged his second gold as part of the 4x100m freestyle relay team with Douglas Erasmus, Brad Tandy and Ryan Coetzee when they finished in 3:21.63.
There was no stopping Erin Gallagher as she sped to the finish line of the 100m freestyle in 55.13, while teammate Emma Chelius scooped the bronze in 55.86. The silver went to Egypt's Farida Osman in 55.62.
Gallagher and Chelius were also a part of the gold medal winning 4x100m freestyle relay team, alongside Jessica Whelan and Kerryn Herbst, where the women topped the podium in 3:48.88.
Kaylene Corbett and Christin Mundell were the gold and silver duo in the 50m breaststroke, touching the wall in 32.20 and 32.70, respectively, with the bronze medal going to Zambia’s Tilka Palik in 32.92.
