T
eam South Africa’s canoeists continued its winning ways at the African Games in Rabat on Thursday, adding a cleansweep of gold medals in all four finals they contested at the regatta course outside Rabat to the gold and silver medal results on the first day of competition.
Esti Van Tonder blitzed her way into the women’s 500m K1 final to set the tone for the day, and them obliterated the women’s field in the final to win the gold by ten seconds from Tunisian Khaoula Sassi.
London Olympic bronze medallist Bridgitte Hartley and her K2 partner added the next title to the team haul when their emphatic final showing earned their gold medals ahead of the Tunisian pairing.
Hartley then stoked the women’s K4 that included Hutton, Nosipho Mthembu and Van Tonder to a comprehensive win, in what was Mthembu’s first taste of international competition.
The men’s K4 crew of Alex Masina, Chrisjan Coetzee, Louis Hattingh and Jarryd Gibson completed the gold medal clean sweep for Team SA on Day Two of the Africa Games by impressively winning the Men’s 500m K4 final.
On the opening day of the continental showpiece Louis Hattingh and Jarryd Gibson scooped the gold medals in the men’s 100m K2 final, after Hattingh had opened the SA paddlers account with a silver in the Men’s m1000m K1 final.
SUMMARY OF RESULTS
WOMEN’S 500m K1
1.Esti Van Tonder RSA 1:55:945
2.Khaoula Sassi TUN 2:05:932
3.Ahmed Samaa EGY 2:13:422
WOMEN’S 500m K2
1.Bridgitte Hartley/Donna Hutton RSA 1:54:279
2. Khaoula Sassi/Alf Ben Ismail TUN 2:01:458
3.Farah Mohamed/Habiba Ahmed EGY 2:06:833
WOMEN’S 500m K4
1.Bridgitte Hartley/Donna Hutton/Nosipho Mthembu/Esti Van Tonder RSA 1:4525
2. Samaa Ahmed/Farah Mohamed/Habiba Ahmed/Rawan Abouarram EGY 1:52:333
3.Zina Aboudalal/Layla Bouchir/Chamyas Guemra/Sela Khabot MAR 1:54:174
MEN’S 500m K4
1.Alex Masina/Chrisjan Coetzee/Louis Hattingh/Jarryd Gibson RSA 1:26:142
2.Ali Ahmed/Momem Mahran/Ahmed Elbedwhy/Mahmoud Awad EGY 1:31:266
3.Samir Laquar/Abderrahmane Ouldkaddour/Abdelhamed Dellouli/Ayoud Handra ALG 1:31:353