Bouwer on track for another medal

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Charles Bouwer of South Africa.

London – Gold medallist in the 50m freestyle S13 on Saturday night, Charles Bouwer looks set to add to his collection when he competes in the evening’s 100m freestyle final in the London Paralympics on Sunday.

Bouwer won his morning heat in a personal best time of 53.28 seconds and said he was looking forward to competing in the final.

“My mother and father are here and it’s quite expensive for them so they’re only watching the finals,” said the tall, visually impaired athlete.

“So I have to make sure I make it into the finals so they don’t waste their money.

“I just want to thank all the people out there for the amazing support we have received.

“We’ve got a lot of messages on twitter from all the people in South Africa and it’s really nice to know they’re backing us all the way.”

On the track, both Marius Stander and Union Sekailwe qualified for the men’s 400m T38 final on Monday by finishing first and third in their respective heats.

Stander’s time was 53.52 seconds, slightly slower than Sekailwe’s 53.28.

The T38 classification is for athletes with athetosis, ataxia and/or hypertonia which typically affects an athlete’s ability to control the legs, trunk, arms and hands.

Swimmer Hendri Herbst failed to qualify for the men’s 100m backstroke S11 final after finishing fifth in his heat in 1:14.76.

China’s Bozun Yang, who has competed in all the same events as Herbst and won a medal in each colour so far, set the quickest time at 1:08.92.

Marike Naude finished seventh in her 100m freestyle S13 heat in 1:11.45, not making the grade as the fastest qualifier was Kelley Becherer of the US, in 1:00.23.

Chenelle van Zyl achieved a distance of 7.83 metres in the women’s shot put F35/35 and was positioned ninth overall.

The gold medal went to Mariia Pomazan of Ukraine with her world record heave of 12.22 metres.

Sandra Khumalo came second in the B final of the women’s single sculls ASW1x rowing competition.

Her time of 6:18.88 placed her eighth overall while the winner took gold in 5:39.29.

Equestrian Paula Johnson, riding Lord Louis, finished 11th in the Individual championship grade IV test.

The men’s wheelchair basketball team went down to Italy 61-32 and are currently bottom of their group after suffering a fourth defeat on the trot.

And finally, Team South Africa’s morning session concluded with two wheelchair tennis matches.

In the quad singles, Lucas Sithole went down 2-6-5-7 to David Wagner from US and Evans Maripa lost to France’s Frederic Cattaneo 1-6, 4-6. – Sapa