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Commonwealth Games

Wayde van Niekerk will sit out Commonwealth Games again

David Isaacson Sports reporter
SA sprinter Wayde van Niekerk.
SA sprinter Wayde van Niekerk.
Image: Roger Sedres/Gallo Images

Wayde van Niekerk will miss the Commonwealth Games again. 

The 400m world record-holder, who is still trying to recapture his form after undergoing knee surgery in 2017, was not among the 26 track and field athletes named by the SA Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (Sascoc) on Monday.

He was still recuperating from the operation at the time of the last Games in Gold Coast and safeguarding his knee possibly cost him a chance of making the team for the showpiece that kicks off in Birmingham later this month. 

Van Niekerk withdrew from the SA championships in April as a precautionary measure, pulled up in a 200m race in Italy in May, and completed only his first race of the season, a 400m in the US, this past weekend. That performance at least showed he had reasonable form before the world championships from July 15 to 24. 

An Athletics SA board member said selections were based on performances from January 1 until mid-June, during which Van Niekerk didn’t complete a race. 

A further 61 competitors across six codes were added to Team SA on Monday, bringing the total to take part in England to 251 — 57 more than the squad that went to Gold Coast 2018.

The bulk of the team for the Birmingham spectacle that runs until August 8 was announced last month.

Included in the squad is embattled wrestler Arno van Zijl, who has been dragged through a drawn-out disciplinary process by his national federation since early April. The matter is still pending against the 20-year-old, who is one of four wrestlers in the team. 

The athletics side features most of SA’s stars, including veteran sprinter Akani Simbine, the defending 100m champion, and rising young guns such as shot putter Kyle Blignaut, 800m runner Prudence Sekgodiso and 110m hurdler Marioné Fourie. 

The Games is the arena where many SA’s sports stars have achieved early success, such as Van Niekerk, who took the 400m silver at Glasgow 2014, and breaststroke queens Tatjana Schoenmaker in 2018 and Penny Heyns in 1994. 

Team SA has been fairly consistent at the Games since 1998, finishing between fifth and seventh on the medals table. Four years ago they ended sixth with 37 medals, including 13 gold. 

Codes announced on Monday:

Athletics

Women: Prudence Sekgodiso (800m), Dominique Scott (10,000m,) Zenéy Van der Walt (400mH/4x400m), Yolandi Stander (discus), Jo-Ane van Dyk (javelin), Marioné Fourie (100mH) Miranda Coetzee (4x400m), Gontse Morake  (4x400m), Taylon Bieldt  (4x400m), Shirley Nekhubui  (4x400m)

Men: Akani Simbine (100m/4x100), Henrico Bruintjies  (4X100m), Emile Erasmus (4x100m), Gift Leotlela (4x100m), Clarence Munyai (100m/4x100), Zakithi Nene  (400m), Tshepo Tshite (800m), Ryan Mphahlele (1500m), Adriaan Wildschutt (5,000m/10,000m), Sokwakhana Zazini (400mH), Kyle Rademeyer (pole vault), Jovan van Vuuren (long jump), Cheswill Johnson (long jump), Kyle Blignaut (shot put), Tshepang Makhethe (hammer throw), Luxolo Adams (200m/4x100m)

Manager: Tshifhiwa Makhoshi

Coaches: Shaun Bownes, Adam Motlagale, Pierre Blignaut 

Paralympic Athletics

Women: Liezel Gouws (100m T37), Martha Potgieter (shot put F57)

Badminton

Johanita Scholtz (singles/doubles/mixed),  Jarred Elliott (doubles/mixed doubles), Robert Summers (singles/doubles), Deidre Laurens (doubles/mixed), Caden Kakora (singles/doubles)

Coach: Stewart Carson 

Wrestling 

Arno Van Zijl (freestyle — 74KG), Edward Lessing (freestyle — 86kg), Steyn De Lange (freestyle — 97KG), Tanki Tau (freestyle — 57kg)

Coach: Bennie Labuschagne 

Swimming

Men: Clayton Jimmie (4x100 free relay)

Women: Trinity Hearne (4x100 medley relay)

Hockey

Men: Mustaphaa Cassiem,  Connor Beauchamp, Timothy Drummond, Nduduzo Lembethe, Keenan Horne, Tevin Kok,  Le-Neal Jackson, Matthew Guise-Brown, Abdud-Dayaan Cassiem, Taine Paton, Ryan Julius, Jethro Eustice, Daniel Bell, Nicholas Spooner, Siyavuya Nolutshungu, Nqobile Ntuli, Samkelo Mvimbi, Gowan Jones

Reserves: Senzwesihle Ngubane, Matthew Stephen De Sousa

Manager: Nhlanhla Mlambo

Coaches: Gareth Ewing, Siphesihle Ntuli

Video analyst: Ashlin Freddy 

Gymnastics

Men: Muhammad Khaalid Mia (artistic)

Coach: Kevin Basson 

Women: Kayla Rondi

Coach: Aimee Van Rooyen

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