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New Delhi - LJ van Zyl relinquished his Commonwealth Games 400m hurdles title to Welshman David Greene in New Delhi on Sunday, but not without a fight.
Van Zyl, 25, had gone into the games in scrappy form and indeed, he scrapped all the way to the line, losing out to Greene in the final strides.
Greene, who has had a great track season and won the Continental Cup in Serbia recently, clocked 48.52sec with Van Zyl a stride back in 48.63.
Third was yet another Welshman in the shape of Rhys Williams. The son of famous Lions rugby winger JJ, the youngster clocked 49.19.
Van Zyl has a best of 48.51 this season but is also a sub-47sec hurdler as is Greene. On Sunday Van Zyl gave it his all over the 10 barriers. Starting from lane seven, he was hauled in by Greene down the backstraight.
Coming into the final straight, Greene held a slight advantage but Van Zyl’s customary strong finish saw him eat into the lead and, were it not for a slight falter metres from the line, may well have caught the winning Welshman.
Still, Van Zyl, the three-time African champion will take heart from his season-ending race.
Also winning silver for Team South Africa was wrestler Heinrich Barnes. Fighting the world champion, Sushil Kumar in the 66-kilogram division, Barnes put up a valiant struggle against the home-town favourite before going down 5-0.
The Pretoria athlete, now based in Oregon, United States won South Africa’s fifth wrestling medal at the competition.
Van Zyl, 25, had gone into the games in scrappy form and indeed, he scrapped all the way to the line, losing out to Greene in the final strides.
Greene, who has had a great track season and won the Continental Cup in Serbia recently, clocked 48.52sec with Van Zyl a stride back in 48.63.
Third was yet another Welshman in the shape of Rhys Williams. The son of famous Lions rugby winger JJ, the youngster clocked 49.19.
Van Zyl has a best of 48.51 this season but is also a sub-47sec hurdler as is Greene. On Sunday Van Zyl gave it his all over the 10 barriers. Starting from lane seven, he was hauled in by Greene down the backstraight.
Coming into the final straight, Greene held a slight advantage but Van Zyl’s customary strong finish saw him eat into the lead and, were it not for a slight falter metres from the line, may well have caught the winning Welshman.
Still, Van Zyl, the three-time African champion will take heart from his season-ending race.
Also winning silver for Team South Africa was wrestler Heinrich Barnes. Fighting the world champion, Sushil Kumar in the 66-kilogram division, Barnes put up a valiant struggle against the home-town favourite before going down 5-0.
The Pretoria athlete, now based in Oregon, United States won South Africa’s fifth wrestling medal at the competition.
