Blignaut finishes sixth in men’s shot put
JOHANNESBURG, August 5 (ANA) – SA’s Kyle Blignaut finished sixth in the men’s shot put at the Tokyo Olympics on Thursday.
Blignaut took sixth position with a 21.00m effort, 21 centimetres short of his personal best set earlier this year.
The 21-year-old former world junior champion was satisfied with his result in a hard-fought battle which was won by American giant Ryan Crouser with a 23.30m heave, just seven centimetres shy of his own world record.
“I think shot put is at an all-time high at the moment, so to be in the top six in the world at a major championship, I feel like that’s an awesome achievement,” Blignaut said.
On the road, Wayne Snyman finished 20th in the men’s 20km walk where he was the oldest in a field of 57 athletes at 36-years-old. He completed the race in 1:24:33, with Massimo Stano of Italy winning the race in 1:21:05.
On the track, the SA men’s 4x100m relay team were eliminated after failing to finish their heat.
Following a late change to the squad, after in-form athlete Gift Leotlela picked up an injury and had to be replaced, the quartet of Clarence Munyai, Shaun Maswanganyi, Chederick van Wyk and Akani Simbine, did not finish their race after failing to complete the first changeover.
President of Athletics South Africa James Moloi, said: “The show goes on. Let’s see what the new day of competition brings us tomorrow. We have to remain optimistic throughout. So, on behalf of the Board of ASA and fellow patriots, we wish our remaining athletes well.”- African News Agency (ANA), Editing by Michael Sherman
