Sunette Viljoen wins silver in women's javelin throw

Sunette Viljoen has bagged South Africa’s ninth medal of the Rio Olympics, taking silver in the women’s javelin on Thursday night.

Viljoen threw 64.92m on her first attempt and held the lead until Sara Kolak of Croatia overtook her with a throw of 66.18m.

Sara Kolak of Croatia leapt ahead of the pack with an impressive throw of 66.18m to win the gold, while defending champion Barbora Spotakova of the Czech Republic took third place with 64.80m.

Viljoen, competing at her fourth Games ended fourth at the London Olympics four years ago.

The 32-year-old Viljoen's achievement weighed in as South Africa's ninth medal of the Rio Games, after swimmer Chad le Clos came second in the men's 100-metre butterfly and 200-metre freestyle, Cameron van der Burgh finished second in the men's 100-metre breaststroke.

Lawrence Brittain and Shaun Keeling secured silver in the men's rowing pairs, captain Kyle Brown and company settled for bronze in the men's rugby sevens and the talented Luvo Manyonga took silver in the men's long jump. The word record-breaking Wayde van Niekerk clinched gold in the men's 400-metre and an elated Henri Schoeman secured bronze in the men's triathlon.

- additional reporting by TEAMtalk Media