SportsLIVE PODCAST | Team SA: despair in Doha (feat. Peter Stemmet)

16 October 2019 - 12:36 By sbu mjikeliso
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Team SA was warmly welcomed by the South African embassy in Doha upon arrival in Qatar for their World Athletics Championships participation but unfortunately they did not have the most successful trip.
Team SA was warmly welcomed by the South African embassy in Doha upon arrival in Qatar for their World Athletics Championships participation but unfortunately they did not have the most successful trip.
Image: @IAAF/Twitter

Team SA came back from the IAAF Athletics Championships in Doha this past week without a single medal, which was in stark contrast to the 2017 performance in London, where the team finished third in the medal standings.

What in heaven's name happened? We have Al Jazeera sports journalist, Peter Stemmet, who is based in Doha and was at the athletics meeting, to unpack the shambolic Team SA display for us.

There were a few close shaves, such as Akani Simbine and Stephen Moroka, who narrowly missed out on podium places in their 100m and marathon disciplines respectively. But in the end, absentees Wayde van Niekerk and Caster Semenya were sorely missed.

How does this bode for SA's medal chances ahead of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games? Well, considering the last time SA returned zero medals at the event was in Osaka in 2007, on the eve of the 2008 Beijing Games, where Team SA only came back with a lowly silver medal, the signs are ominous.

We also look ahead to the Rugby World Cup quarterfinals where the Springboks are due to play Japan, the All Blacks play Ireland, Wales face France and England face Australia.

Plus, new Bafana Bafana coach Molefi Ntseki started his coaching reign with a bang when his team beat Mali 2-1 to scoop the Nelson Mandela Challenge title. All this and more on the latest episode of the SportsLIVE podcast.


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