It was mission accomplished for South African long jump ace Ruswahl Samaai as he claimed the silver medal at the Shanghai Diamond League meeting Saturday.
He was pipped by Gao Xinglong by the narrowest of margins with both jumpers recording best leaps of 8.14m.
The Chinese athlete’s second-best attempt of 8.09m was better than Samaai’s 8.07m to claim the victory.
World silver medallist Fabrice Lappierre of Australia had to be content with the bronze medal with his best attempt of 8.09m.
“I am pretty happy with today, I lost on countback but that is sport, you win some and you lose some,” Samaai told the IAAF website.
Samaai has jumped further than eight metres on nine occasions thus season highlighting his consistency.
Samaai still boasts with the world-leading leap of 8.34m from the South African Championships in Stellenbosch in April.
South African record-holder LJ van Zyl produced the best performance this season finishing fourth in the men’s 400m hurdles race with a time of 49.13 seconds which was 0.23 behind the winner Michael Tinsley of the United States.
Highlighting his class, it was the 101st time Van Zyl dipped below 49.50 while he it also demonstrated how he was making positive improvements.
The 30-year-old shaved 0.21 seconds off his previous season’s best he clocked at the South African Track and Field Championships in Stellenbosch last month.
“I thought it was a great race and I am exactly where I want to be this time of the season,” Van Zyl said.
“I beat a few of the big guys and I dipped two metres too early at the line but I am satisfied although a victory would have been nice but at my ‘old day’ I am quite patient. Next up is Ostrava (World Challenge) where I will try to get away from the 49s.”
Poland’s Patryk Dobek crossed the line second place with a time of 49.01,l ahead of Jeffrey Gibson of the Bahamas.
Van Zyl finished ahead of former world champions Kerron Clement and Bershawn Jackson of the United States, and reigning champion Nicholas Bett of Kenya.
Meanwhile, Rynardt van Rensburg finished seventh in a time of 1:46.69 stopping just short of his season’s best of 1:46.58.
Van Rensburg has dipped below the Olympic qualifying time only once when he clocked a personal best of 1:45.40 in Velenje, Slovania in July 2015. - Independent Media