Earlier today, the athletics section of the 2012 London Summer Olympics commenced. Already, African athletes are shining. Amantle Montsho of Botswana qualified for the women’s 400m semifinals in a time of 50.40s; the fastest qualifying time. Also qualifying for the same event was Kenya’s Joy Nakhumicha Sakari, in a time of 51.85s. Three African athletes qualified for the men’s 400m hurdles semifinals, Kurt Couto (Mozambique), Amaechi Morton (Nigeria), and Kasse Mamadou Hanne (Senegal). In the women’s 100m preliminaries qualifications, Delphine Atangana of Cameroon, Lorene Bazolo of Congo, and Bamab Napo made it through to round 1. And, in women’s handball, Angola claimed their first victory against the host nation, Great Britain.
This weekend is definitely going to be an action packed one for African athletes and supporters. The main events to watch out for on Saturday are the men and women’s 400m events, the women’s 100m semifinals and finals, and the men’s 10,000m final.
South Africa rowed to victory in the Men’s Lightweight Four event on Thursday, day 7 of the 2012 London Summer Olympics. The South African team from the University of Pretoria capitalized in the last 500m of the race. The team, James Thompson, Lawrence Ndlovu, Matthew Brit
tan, and John Smith, surged from third position to claim victory. Later on today, the Nigerian men’s basketball will take on the USA. It is unlikely that Nigeria will defeat the USA; the USA is currently the only team in Group A that has not lost a game. However, we would be positively surprised if Nigeria could steal the win.
Tomorrow kicks off the athletics section of the 2012 London Summer Olympics. We are expecting the medal count for Africa to increase substantially. Be sure to look out for athletes profiled late last month as medal contenders. Also, in swimming, keep an eye out for Chad Le Clos as he competes in the 100m Butterfly final.
For more on sports in Africa, visit sports.africa.com!
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