TUESDAY, 11.30AM:
SOUTH African rising surfing star Greg Emslie moved to the top of the ASP World Qualifying Series (WQS) rankings after an impressive fifth-place finish in the Mark Richards Newcastle City PRO in Australia at the weekend.
Emslie narrowly missed the final when he placed third in the semifinal behind Brazil’s Peterson Rosa and Australian Mark Occhilupo.
“It feels great to be leading the ratings going into the next event at Margaret River this week,” said a delighted Emslie. “I’m feeling confident after four solid results in my first six events this year and, hopefully, I can keep up the consistency and score more good results.”
Emslie scored top results in the Reef Classic in Uruguay, where he finished first; a second place in the Copa Bremen PRO in Peru; his fifth in Newcastle; and a 17th in the Reef Classic in Argentina.
Emslie has also secured wild-card entries for the Gunston 500 in Durban in July and the Kaiser Summer Surf in Brazil. This gives him a great opportunity to come into more points.
Emslie will be joined by Sean Holmes from Wilderness and Durbanites Marc Jackson, Byron Howarth, Seth Hulley and Paul Canning in the Coca-Cola Masters at Margaret River in Western Australia this week, while Clark features in the Quit Women’s Classic at the same venue.
SPORT BRIEFS
ERNIE FINISHES WELL AHEAD OF MASTERS
ERNIE ELS finished in the top 13 of the Players’ Championship in Ponte Verde Beach, Florida, ahead of the US Masters in Augusta next weekend. The tournament was won by American Justin Leonard. Defending Masters champion Tiger Woods failed to break par in any of his four rounds, and finished in 35th place at two-over 290, 12 strokes behind Leonard.
ENGLAND LADIES TO SA
COLLEEN ROBERTS, vice-president of the South African Women’s Cricket Association, said in Durban on Monday night that an England Under-21 side will compete in the SA women’s cricket interprovincial tournament in Bloemfontein from Sunday to April 13. The tourists will then play two one-day internationals against their SA counterparts on April 14 and 15.
BOWNES, GERRYTS WIN CHALLENGE
SHAWN BOWNES, the new SA 110m hurdles record holder, and Elmarie Gerryts, holder of the new African polevault record, are the winnes of the 1998 Reebok Challenge. To win the challenge, and R15 000, the athletes have to earn maximum points from the six Absa Series events and the Absa Senior Track and Field championships.
SA SQUASH PAIR OUT …
THE South African squash pair representing SA at the British Open both crashed out in the first round. Rodney Durbach was beaten 15-12 15-12 15-10 by Australian Byron Davis, and twelfth-seed Claire Nitch went down 9-4 7-9 9-5 9-3 to England’s Tracey Shenton.
… BUT DURBACH IN MAIN EVENT
RODNEY DURBACH and Sjeanne Cawdry have qualified for the main event of the Bristish Open squash championships at the Lamba Club in England.
AMANDA WORLD NO 4
AMANDA COETZER’s WTA ranking has improved to by one position to fourth.