Golden start for Team SA

JACK MILNER

There are a few disciplines that have matches prior to the opening ceremony and with Rugby 7s one of the newer sports in the Maccabiah, they – literally and figuratively – got the ball rolling. 

The Rugby 7s set the tone for Team SA when they scored a hard-fought 19-12 victory over Israel in the final.  

“If they could do, so could we,” said other members of the team at the Opening Ceremony. Since then, there have been four more gold medals, three in cycling and another in the 10km road race. There have also been a couple of silver medals – one for golf and another for Masters’ squash

Six countries participated in the Rugby 7s event – Argentina, Australia, France, Israel, South Africa and the US. The countries were divided into two groups and the “Yiddisher Blitzbokke” began the competition by ruining Independence Day celebrations for the Americans.

They caused them to mourn on the 4^th of July by hammering them 24-10. The South Africans followed that up with a 39-0 victory over Australia.

That was good enough to get them into the semi-finals where they once again met Argentina and that proved to be a tougher match, but the South Africans prevailed 15-5. In the other semi-final Israel played Australia who they beat 29-0.

There was also a bronze medal for the SA Junior 7s team.  

After the opening ceremony, the cyclists took the road in the ITT 21km race. Issy Zimmerman won Gold in the men’s over-50 category in a time of 30.18 minutes, Jared Poulton won the Elite 19+ race in 29,24 minutes while Jodi Zulberg claimed the title in the 30-49 women’s age group, completing the event in 34,03 minutes.

The final Gold medal at the time of writing, went to athlete Adam Lipschitz who won the 10km road race on Monday.

The first Silver medal went to Moshe Duek in the Masters golf tournament. He finished second in the Nett of the Grand Masters with a score of 219 after three rounds.

The 50+ men’s Masters squash team added another Silver to the tally on Monday.

The second Bronze medal went to the men’s trips Bowls team of Jonty Alexander, Mares Stein and Dennis Phillips.

Meanwhile there are a number of teams which are heading for medals. The junior cricketers have lost just one match but they are heading towards the final. They started off with a win over Israel, who they bowled out for just 87 and then went on to reach the tally with ease, putting 90 on for four wickets.

Their one defeat was a narrow two-run loss to Australia who scored 158 for eight in reply to South Africa’s 156 for seven wickets. They then took on Great Britain who they bowled out for a mere 91 and once again scored the runs easily, putting on 92 for four wickets.

“They are doing very well,” said coach Joanne Tankel. “They will play Great Britain in the playoffs on Thursday and if they win, the final will be played on Friday.”

The open cricketers did not start that well, scoring 186 for eight in their allotted overs and the Australians went on to score 192 for nine in a nail-biting finish.  

However, from that point it they have not put a foot wrong. They scored a five-wicket win over Great Britain, bowling them for 101 and then scoring 104 for five wickets.

The South Africans managed a facile win over India. They opened the batting and put on 200 for six wickets and then bowled out the Indians for 124. At this point they are lying second on the log behind unbeaten Australia.

The open soccer team are out of contention for a medal but they have not been disgraced.

They went down 2-1 to France and then lost 3-2 to Germany with Aaron Witz and Greg Segal scoring a goal apiece. They lost 2-0 to Argentina but then beat Australia 3-0.

However, the revelation of the South African delegation has been the junior soccer team who are sitting second on the log with just one match to play before the knockout stage.

They began with a 6-1 drubbing of Germany, with Michael Mayer scoring three goals and one each from Gabriel Milne, Jess Rom and Michail Ribeiro.

Unfortunately, in their second match they were thumped 5-0 by Israel but the home team are at the top of the log. After that it has been all South Africa. They beat Venezuela 4-1, with a brace from Doron Swartz and one each from Michael Mayer and Yosef Zail, and then scored a 2-0 win over Great Britain with goals from Rom and another from Mayer.

SA still have to play Spain who are fifth on the log. Israel currently top the log with 10 points, South Africa are second on nine, followed by Great Britain on seven, and Germany, Spain and Venezuela on three each.