Blast from the past: Brave Bafana hold Germany to a draw

Today in SA sports history: December 15

1990 — Thulani “Sugar Boy” Malinga loses his second world title bid, being outpointed by IBF super-middleweight champion Lindell Holmes of the US in Rome. He would become world champion in his fourth shot in 1996.

1995 — In their last outing before competing in their maiden Africa Cup of Nations tournament, Bafana Bafana draw 0-0 with Germany at the Johannesburg Athletics Stadium. It was a morale-lifting result for the Neil Tovey-captained SA team, which went on to win the continental showpiece the next year.

1996 — Randburg resident Mark Robinson wins the openweight category at the amateur world sumo wrestling championships in Tokyo. In the final the 140kg Robinson beat American Emanual Yarborough, who tipped the scales at 315kg. Robinson, the son of Norman, a top judoka, boasted SA colours in six different codes, featuring four forms of wrestling, judo and powerlifting, where he won the +140kg category at the 1990 World Powerlifting Congress version of the world championships in Italy. 

1996 — Scrumhalf Joost van der Westhuizen scores three tries as the Springboks thump Wales 37-20 at Cardiff Arms Park to wrap up their end-of-year tour on a high. Fullback Andre Joubert and wing Jacques Olivier also dotted down, while Wales were able to score only one try, through flyhalf Arwel Thomas. The Boks had beaten France twice before heading to Wales for their final match.

1997 — Bafana Bafana go down 0-1 to the United Arab Emirates in a Confederations Cup match in Riyadh. The defeat was blamed in part on the absence of captain Lucas Radebe and fellow defender Eric Tinkler, who both failed to arrive in the country amid a reported visa bungle.

2000 — Dingaan Thobela loses his WBC super-middleweight title to Davey Hilton of Canada on a split decision in Montreal, Canada. Thobela had won the title from Glenn Catley three months earlier.