Sports News 12:30

BULLETIN SPORTS NEWS 29 July 12:30 pm

Good day, let’s look at the latest sports news and scores:

# We concentrate mainly on the Olympic Games: South Africa’s swimming star, Tatjana Smith, is through to the women’s 100-metre breaststroke final in Paris. The 27-year-old posted the fastest time across both semifinal heats of one minute 05.00 seconds, which is only 0.18 seconds off her Olympic record set in Tokyo. Pieter Coetzé finished tied for second in the men’s 100-metre backstroke semifinal and is through to the final. His time of 52.63 seconds is a new African record. Aimee Canny finished sixth in the women’s 200-metre freestyle, missing out on a spot in the final.

Smith, the Tokyo gold and silver medallist, says she is proud of her performance and is not putting any pressure on herself:

In another development, training for the triathlon had to be cancelled for the second successive day today because of the polluted River Seine. The organisers and World Triathlon say tests have shown the water quality was not up to standard. The men’s triathlon is due to start tomorrow. If the water quality has not improved by then, the swimming leg will be moved to later this week, or abandoned if it can’t go ahead then. The standard was good until heavy rain this weekend diminished the quality.

Two all-time greats of tennis, Spain’s Rafael Nadal and Serbia’s Novak Djokovic, will meet for a record-extending 60th time in their careers when they play in the second round in Paris today. Nadal defeated Hungary’s Marton Fucsovics, 6-1 4-6, 6-4, while Djokovic eased past Australia’s Matt Ebden. Tokyo gold medalist Alexander Zverev of Germany, Norwegian Casper Ruud and Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece are also through to the second round.

# And motorsport: Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton inherited the Belgian Grand Prix win after his Mercedes teammate George Russell was disqualified. Russell had taken victory following a one-stop strategy, which saw him nurse his hard tyres to the chequered flag, and hold off Hamilton by half a second. However, after the race, his car was found to be underweight. McLaren’s Oscar Piastri was promoted to second, while Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc moved up to third. Hamilton says he is happy with the performance of the car:

Stay tuned for more news………….