Manyonga leads SA at Shanghai Diamond League

Cape Town - In-form Rio Olympic silver medallist Luvo Manyonga will lead a four-man South African contingent at the second leg of the IAAF Diamond League series in Shanghai, China on Saturday. 

Manyonga, who set a national record of 8.65m to win the national title in Potchefstroom last month, will be joined in the long jump by fellow former Olympic silver medallist Khotso Mokoena, who leaped 8.05m at an indoor meeting in Karlsruhe in February.

African champion Ruswahl Samaai, who set a personal best of 8.49m at the recent SA Senior Championships to settle in second place in the 2017 world rankings, is also contesting the same event. 

They will be up against a field including American Jeff Henderson, who edged out Manyonga by one centimetre to win the Olympic title in Rio last year, and Australian Fabrice Lapierre, the World Championships silver medallist in Beijing two years ago. 

National record holder LJ van Zyl, meanwhile, will line up in the men's 400m hurdles. 

Van Zyl, who was third at the Diamond League season opener in Doha last week, is up against the likes of Olympic champion Kerron Clement of the United States, and Kenyan world champion Nicholas Bett. 

Schedule of SA athletes (SA times):

13:03 - LJ van Zyl (men's 400m hurdles)

13:27 - Luvo Manyonga, Ruswahl Samaai, Khotso Mokoena (men's long jump)