Sports News 12:30

BULLETIN SPORTS NEWS 10 January 12:30 pm

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

# We kick off with Rugby: Springbok Sevens coach Philip Snyman says they are aware of the mammoth task ahead at the Perth leg of the World Sevens Series. The Blitzboks have been drawn in a tough pool alongside reigning champions Argentina, hosts Australia, and the USA for the tournament from the 24th to the 26th of January. The team returned to their base in Stellenbosch last week. Snyman says he will continue adding new players as he is rebuilding his squad towards the next Olympics:

# Motorsport: South Africa’s Henk Lategan and Brett Cummings have extended their overall Dakar Rally lead to ten minutes over Sweden’s Mattias Ekström and Saudi Arabia’s Yazeed Al-Rajhi. However, the 428-kilometre stage saw Nasser Al-Attiyah and Frenchman Edouard Boulanger dominated in performance as they cut their overall deficit to Lategan to 25 minutes. South African teams, including Saood Variawa, faced mixed results. Competitors now prepare for Saturday’s 605-kilometre stage after today’s rest day in Ha’il, Saudi Arabia.

# Tennis: Three-time Grand Slam champion Andy Murray says he could not turn down the unique opportunity to coach his long-time rival Novak Djokovic. They announced they were teaming up in November last year; with the current arrangement only extending until the end of the Australian Open, which Djokovic will be bidding to win for an eleventh time. Murray, who retired from playing professionally in August last year, says working with the Serb is exactly what he expected:

# Cricket: The Durban Super Giants are hoping to go one step better this year, as they begin their SA20 campaign against the Pretoria Capitals at Kingsmead Stadium in Durban today. They lost last year’s final by 89 runs to the Sunrisers Eastern Cape. Captain, Keshav Maharaj, says they have another strong group of players with a lot of returning guys and some exciting additions, so they are looking forward to starting the campaign:

# And finally: The Referendum Party says it notes Sport, Arts and Culture minister, Gayton McKenzie’s comments condemning the Afghani Cricket Federation for its discrimination against women. The minister supports calls for the Proteas to boycott their ICC Champions Trophy match against Afghanistan next month. He cited moral concerns over the Taliban government’s ban on women’s sports and the disbanding of Afghanistan’s female cricket team in 2021. Referendum Party leader, Phil Craig, says they support the minister’s stance:

Stay tuned for more news………….