/ 6 May 1997

Wayne wants a new racket

TUESDAY, 11.00AM:

SOUTH African tennis star Wayne Ferreira, plagued by a string of first-round knock-outs in international tournaments in Estoril, Madrid, Monte Carlo and Hamburg, is looking for a new racket to change his luck before the French Open in three weeks.

His search has been going on for some time now, and suppliers Dunlop have been unsuccessfully trying to come up with the right formula. “Dunlop have been trying to make a suitable racket for me but so far nothing is really working. It’s becoming sort of irritating. The rackets they are sending me are nice but I’m just not comfortable with them,” said Ferreira.

Ferreira is obviously hoping that a new racket will return him to the form he last saw in his Davis Cup matches last month, when he played to two magnificent wins against Sweden before his current run of first-round knock-outs.

SPORTS BRIEFS

SA STRONGMAN GET MEDALS

SA weightlifter Henk Booysen won three silver medals at the African championships in Egypt, setting seven new SA record in the process. In the heavyweight division he competed in the snatch, the clean and jerk, and held a total of 310kg.

FORMER BOK DIES

FORMER Sprinmgbok rugby winger Carel Fourie died in hospital yesterday after contracting malaria following a trip to Malawi. He developed the illness last month, and was hospitalised in a serious condition after a relapse last week.

VAAL HOCKEY SCRAPES WIN

TRANSVAAL’S U21 hockey side scraped a 2-1 win over Northern Transvaal yesterday in the Willams Hunt Delta SA U21 men’s hockey tournament in Port Elizabeth. In another tournament match, Free State slaughtered Eastern Gauteng 10-1.

HANSIE BATS AGAIN

SA cricket captain Hansie Cronje, stranding in as skipper for Ireland, yesterday hit an unbeaten 30 to take Ireland to 74/3 of 20,5 overs before rain stopped play in a B&H Cup match against Glamorgan in Cardiff. Cronje will continue his innings today.

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