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Cape Town - Team South Africa suffered a woeful morning at the IAAF World Championships on Thursday, with all three athletes in action producing forgettable performances.
South Africa's sole representative in the women's 200m, Justine Palframan, failed to qualify for the semi-finals, finishing fifth in her heat in a time of 23.64 which was only good enough for the 35th-best overall time out of the 49 starters.
Little-known men's shot putter, Orazio Cremona, failed in his bid to reach the final. His best heave of 19.42m left him in 15th spot, with the Top 12 progressing to the final.
In perhaps the biggest shock, Robert Oosthuizen, competing in the men's javelin qualification round, had a series of throws to forget. The best of his three throws - 74.36m - left him 31st out of the 33 competitors, and well outside the Top 12 cut-off for the final of 80.18m.
Oosthuizen's other throws were 70.99m and a no-throw.
In the absence of Caster Semenya, South Africa had no representative in the women's 800m heats which were also held on Thursday morning.
South Africa's only hopes of a medal of any colour now appear to lie with Khotso Mokoena - who qualified with the second-furthest leap for the men's long jump final (Friday, 17:30 SA time) - and Sunette Viljoen in the women's javelin, the qualification rounds of which will be held on Friday morning (10:55 SA time).
South Africa's sole representative in the women's 200m, Justine Palframan, failed to qualify for the semi-finals, finishing fifth in her heat in a time of 23.64 which was only good enough for the 35th-best overall time out of the 49 starters.
Little-known men's shot putter, Orazio Cremona, failed in his bid to reach the final. His best heave of 19.42m left him in 15th spot, with the Top 12 progressing to the final.
In perhaps the biggest shock, Robert Oosthuizen, competing in the men's javelin qualification round, had a series of throws to forget. The best of his three throws - 74.36m - left him 31st out of the 33 competitors, and well outside the Top 12 cut-off for the final of 80.18m.
Oosthuizen's other throws were 70.99m and a no-throw.
In the absence of Caster Semenya, South Africa had no representative in the women's 800m heats which were also held on Thursday morning.
South Africa's only hopes of a medal of any colour now appear to lie with Khotso Mokoena - who qualified with the second-furthest leap for the men's long jump final (Friday, 17:30 SA time) - and Sunette Viljoen in the women's javelin, the qualification rounds of which will be held on Friday morning (10:55 SA time).
