Rio de Janeiro – Dylan Buis came the closest of any South African to win a medal on the sixth day of the Paralympic Games on a scorcher of a morning at the Olympic Stadium Tuesday. Five thousandths of a second separated him and Edson Pinheiro of Brazil in the 100m for the cerebral palsied on a tough day for Team SA.
Anrune Liebenberg was the bright spark of the track Tuesday morning when she qualified for Wednesday’s 400m final. Buis, who won three medals in London, was gutted by the loss, but the 25-year old from Riversdale still has the 400m and long jump to come. He won medals in the 100m, 400m and long jump in 2012. He started slowly and came back hard near the end, but his time of 11.257 was just shy of Pinheiro’s 11.252.
“The false start rattled us a bit, but I managed to get my focus back,” said Buis. “My start wasn’t that good. Ultimately, I am satisfied. I came out today to hunt for gold, but unfortunately the result didn’t come. I was way behind from the start and I thought there was a chance to get through for the medal. I really thought I had the medal. It was a split second for the third place, but that’s the way it goes sometimes. I still have the other events and I will turn my focus on to them now.”
Liebenberg, who was born without a left hand, was a silver medallist in the 400m, but has come back stronger over the last four years. She won her heat in a relaxed 1:07.79, with only China’s Li Lu faster in 1:00.77. Liebenberg has a PB of 56.65 and a season best of 58.77. Lu has a season and personal best of 59.53, which either is a precursor of a slow race or Liebenberg holding a lot back in reserve for Wednesday’s final at 11.26pm South African time. Her start, because of her missing hand, is not the quickest, but as she will tell you, her finish is always good.
Liezel Gouws, the 17-year old Klerksdorp schoolgirl, was seventh in the 400m final, the second final she has made at her first Paralympics. Andrea Dall Ave managed a season best 5.86 in the long jump final for the cerebral palsied. He had also finished fifth in London. In the pool, no South Africans went through to last night’s finals from their heats. Achmat Hassiem, the shark boy, was fifth in the 100m freestyle, Shireen Sapiro seventh in 100m freestyle, Emily Gray seventh in the 50m freestyle. Save for Kevin Paul’s gold medal, the swimming team is having a tough meet.
Lucas Sithole will take on old wheelchair tennis rival David Wagner of the United States in the bronze medal on Wednesday as comprehensively outplayed by Australia’s Dylan Walcott 6-0, 6-3 in their semifinal on Monday night. Sithole had looked in good form in the previous matches, but his coaches had spoken of how Walcott was a “hard, tough” opponent. So he turned out to be, but Sithole had a bad night. His first serve was off cue and his returns uncertain and wayward. Only when the game was lost did he find the freedom to hit his shots and broke back in the second set, but by then he was done.
Wagner is a six-time Paralympic medallist with nine Grand Slam titles to his name. Sithole beat Wagner to win the US Open in 2013.
At 6.10pm Pretoria time, South Africa’s newest superstar, the 14-year old Ntando Mahlangu will run in the heats for the 100m. It is not his favourite or preferred distance, but, then, neither was the 100m.
Independent Media