SA rule the roost

Sport
SOUTH Africa once again became the overall winners in the sixth edition of the African Union Sports Council Region 5 Under-20 Youth Games after hauling a massive 64 gold medals in the games that ended in Bulawayo yesterday.

SOUTH Africa once again became the overall winners in the sixth edition of the African Union Sports Council Region 5 Under-20 Youth Games after hauling a massive 64 gold medals in the games that ended in Bulawayo yesterday.

FORTUNE MBELE SPORTS REPORTER They had a total of 121 medals compared to 132 picked up in Zambia in 2012.

Zimbabwe came second with just 18 gold medals with 13 coming from athletics, two from tennis, one from netball and one from Judo. The hosts had 42 silver and 33 bronze medals netting a total 93.

South Africa dominated in swimming and athletics where they amassed 17 and 32 gold medals respectively.

They won the fifth edition of the games in Zambia 2012 where they picked up 67 gold, 46 silver and 19 bronze medals.

Zambia had come third when they hosted the games with 12 gold, nine silver and 20 bronze but they slid downwards this year, picking up only seven gold, six silver and 13 bronze medals.

In this year’s competition, Zambia dropped to position seven.

Malawi were the worst performers with one gold from judo.

Angola, who will host the games in 2016, were the giants in basketball and landed position three this year with 11 gold, four silver and five bronze, grabbing the gold in basketball, athletics, boxing and judo.