It was a challenging opening day for Team South Africa at the Tokyo Olympics on Saturday, with very little to celebrate.
While the men’s football team got their campaign under way on Thursday where they lost 1-0 to hosts Japan, competition officially kicked off on Saturday where South Africa had several athletes taking part.
Unfortunately, it was difficult to find any success stories.
ROWING
South Africa’s rowers had a disappointing start to their Olympic campaign as they finished last in both the men’s pair and men’s fours heats. – REPORT
CYCLING
Stefan de Bod was the best placed South African in the men’s cycling road race at the Tokyo Olympics on Saturday. He finished in 52nd position while compatriots Nic Dlamini and Ryan Gibbons did not complete the course. – REPORT
JUDO
South Africa’s Geronay Whitebooi lost by Ippon to Argentina’s Paula Pareto.
WATERPOLO
It has been a journey for the South African womens’s team to get to Tokyo – they held fundraisers to pay their own way – and few would have expected them to challenge in their opener against Spain. They didn’t, and were beaten 29-4.
HOCKEY
The men’s side were drawing 1-1 to Great Britain for a decent chunk of the match, but they were outclassed in the end and went down 3-1. – REPORT
South Africa’s women’s hockey team lost 2-0 to Ireland in their opening Pool A game at the Tokyo Olympics. – REPORT
SWIMMING
Erin Gallagher and Michael Houlie finished in 8th place in their 100m butterfly and 100m breaststroke heats, respectively – REPORT
