Achmat Hassiem pockets Men’s 50m backstroke title: Day three -
South African LC Nationals
Achmat Hassiem of WPA-WP pocketed gold medal of the Men’s 50m backstroke in the Multi-Class category of S1-S13 on day three of the South African Long Course Nationals at the KZN Aquatic-Kings Park Centre in Durban on Wednesday, April 18.
The 29-year-old Hassiem upset his challengers in the 50m backstroke discipline, as he faced no trouble in proving his eligibility for gold medal of the event.
With his fabulous swim in the double lap discipline, he stayed nearly two body lengths ahead of his following rival, J Bezuidenhout of KZNA-KZ and emerged on the finishing end for gold medal by posting a time of 32.13 seconds.
Bezuidenhout remained nearly 2.60 seconds slower from Hassiem and tapped the wall with the timing of 34.72 seconds for silver medal of the discipline.
His scintillating effort was followed by Jo van Heerden of NCASA-NC, who captured bronze medal of the discipline by posting a time of 34.77 seconds.
Heerden was chased by Charl Parkin of EP-EP, who remained nearly three seconds slower and submitted a time of 37.98 seconds for fourth position.
Afterwards, Challis Wright of CGA-CG clinched gold medal of the equivalent event in Men’s Multi-Class S14-S15 category.
The 20-year-old Wright stayed considerably ahead of his challengers throughout the discipline and posted a time of 32.22 seconds for gold medal.
Wright was chased by his team-member, Craig Groenewald, who seized silver medal of the discipline by reporting an effort of 33.41 seconds.
The 33-year-old Groenewald was chased by Mark Groenewald of WPA-WP, who was only 0.02 seconds behind and tapped the wall with the timing of 33.43 seconds for bronze medal.
The 21-year-old Groenewald was trailed by Sipho Mjoka of KZNA-KZ, who remained almost one second slower from his former finisher and ended his swim in fourth best place by touching the wall with the timing of 34.46 seconds.
Mjoka was chased by Valentino Vergotine of WPA-WP, who finished fifth in the race by posting a time of 35.70 seconds.
Furthermore, the championship will continue for four more days and will end on April 22 after the completion of all scheduled events.
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