Sports News 12:30

BULLETIN SPORTS NEWS 29 January 12:30 pm

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

# We kick off with rugby: Springbok Sevens coach, Sandile Ngcobo, says he is happy with how they finished the Perth Sevens tournament in Australia, beating France 24-5 to finish in fifth place. Argentina won their second successive tournament to retain their place at the top of the standings, while the Blitzboks are now tied in fourth spot with Ireland, behind Australia and Fiji after three tournaments. Ngcobo says with such tough competition, they need to be clinical and show up in every single game:

# Soccer: The Palestine national  team will play two exhibition matches against local invitational teams at the Athlone Stadium in Cape Town next month. National governing body Safa has scheduled the matches for the eleventh and 18th of February. Cape Town mayor, Geordin Hill-Lewis, says the city will waive the rental hire costs for the stadium and provide 400-thousand-rand in event support services, including traffic and waste management:

And more soccer news, The Democratic Republic of Congo knocked out seven-time champions Egypt to reach the Africa Cup of Nations quarterfinals. After a one-all draw following extra time, Congo edged out Egypt eight-seven on penalties at the Laurent Pokou Stadium in the Ivory Coast. Meanwhile, Mohamed Bayo scored in the 98th minute as Guinea recorded a one-nil victory over ten-man Equatorial Guinea, to make the last eight for the first time since 2015. Guinea will take on DR Congo in Abidjan on Friday for a place in the semifinals.

# Boxing: Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture, Zizi Kodwa, has congratulated South African boxer, Jackson van Tonder Chauke, for winning the vacant International Boxing Organisation flyweight title. He beat Quaise Khademi who was born in Kabul, Afghanistan, but is based in England, at the York Hall in London on Saturday night. The ministry’s spokesperson, Litha Mpondwana, says Kodwa has expressed his desire for South African boxing to be revived and return to the heights it has scaled before:

# And finally, tennis: Serbia’s Novak Djokovic has retained the number one ranking despite a rare defeat in the Australian Open semifinals. Russia’s Daniil Medvedev missed the opportunity to move past world number two Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz after his defeat in the final in Melbourne and remains third. He is followed by Australian Open champion Italy’s Jannik Sinner and Russia’s Andrey Rublev. In the women’s rankings, despite her third-round exit at Melbourne Park, Poland’s Iga Swiatek holds on to the number one spot, ahead of champion Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus, and American Coco Gauff.

Stay tuned for more news………….