Sports News 12:30

BULLETIN SPORTS NEWS 3 July 12:30 pm

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

# We start off with soccer: Banyana Banyana head coach Desiree Ellis believes they are ready to start defending their Women’s Africa Cup of Nations crown against Ghana in Morocco on Monday. South Africa also faces Mali and Tanzania in Group C. Ellis says defending a title is very difficult, but they know it’s possible. She believes it will take everybody to step up like in 2022. Ellis says they’ve been closely tracking the development of key rivals, and is banking on tactical depth and team chemistry.

# Rugby: Junior Springbok head coach Kevin Foote made minor changes to his team for tomorrow’s World Rugby Under 20 Championship match against England in Rovigo, Italy. He kept faith in the players who destroyed Australia in their first match, winning 73-17. Foote picked centre Gino Cupido in the starting team in place of Demitre Erasmus, who is ill, and replaced Erich Visser and Ian van der Merwe on the bench with Ceano Everson and Dominic Malgas. Kick-off is at 6 pm.

# Canoeing:  Hank McGregor stamped his authority on the 2025 Berg River Marathon with a massive lead of almost six minutes over Robert Herreveld after the first leg. The 47-year-old multiple world champion is already strongly favoured to claim his 14th title. In the women’s race, Nix Birkett was fighting a close battle with Jenna Nisbet in the 62-kilometre stage from Paarl to Zonquasdrift. Today’s leg is running from Gouda to Bridgetown after a decision was made to remove the Zonquasdrift to Gouda section due to dangerous conditions.

# Tennis: Russia’s Andrey Rublev took his career head-to-head record against South Africa’s Lloyd Harris to 4-0 when he won their second-round match at Wimbledon. Rublev beat Harris in four sets to advance to the third round. Harris came into the match after a first-round victory over Belgian Zizou Bergs. The 28-year-old South African has battled back from injury, with major back surgery in October last year.

And more news from Wimbledon: Last year’s runner-up, Jasmine Paolini, became the latest star to crash out of the tournament. In the first two days, nine of the top 10 seeded men’s and women’s singles players were eliminated. Second-seeded Coco Gauff, third-seeded Jessica Pegula, and fifth-seeded Zheng Qinwen all lost in the first round, while fourth-seeded Paolini was ousted in the second round. On the men’s side, 13 seeded players have already been eliminated, with American 12th seed Frances Tiafoe becoming the latest casualty, losing against world number 61 Cameron Norrie.

Stay tuned for more news………….