South African pro surfer Greg Emslie continued his bid for a place among the world’s top 45 ranked surfers by placing second in the six-star rated, R1-million Rio Surf Pro International on Sunday.
The 31-year-old East Londoner is South Africa’s most successful pro surfer, and this year is trying to regain his spot on the ASP World Tour after ranking 30th …

South African golfer Charl Schwartzel overcame a respiratory infection and a sore shoulder to triumph at the Madrid Masters in Spain on Sunday.
Thanks to his fathers advice to compete in the competition despite his ailments, Schwartzel netted the winners cheque of €166 660 (R2.07-million) with a great total of 19-under-par 265.
This marks his third European Tour title, with his most …

It has been thirteen years since South Africa played host to a full ATP Tour tennis tournament, but when the SA Open is played in Johannesburg next year, the country will finally see the return of high calibre international tennis to its courts.
The SA Open tournament is scheduled to be played at Joburg’s Montecasino from February 2 to 6, …

Fifa and the Local Organising Committee (LOC) have shown their appreciation to about 20 000 construction workers by giving each of them two free tickets to World Cup football matches held at the stadiums they are working on.
The announcement was made on Wednesday by Fifa president Sepp Blatter after his four-day inspection tour had reached its end, and comes a …

South African downhill mountain-biker Greg Minnaar finished top of the log in the Nissan UCI Downhill Series overall results, earning him the title of world champion in the popular adrenaline-fuelled sport.
Minnaar won three of the seven events including a stunning win at the season’s penultimate event in Canberra where he managed to pull away from the competition with a 116-point …

Greeted by a jubilant group of workers singing “Shosholoza” at Soccer City on Tuesday, FIFA president Sepp Blatter was well impressed, enough so, that he gave South Africa’s preparation towards the 2010 World Cup a very pleased thumbs up.
The inspection tour of Soweto’s Soccer City, which is hosting the opening and closing games and currently being injected with a R1.5-billion …

Natalie du Toit has been honoured with the Whang Youn Dai Achievement Award at the Beijing Paralympic Games on Tuesday.
She won the award alongside Panaman visually-impaired runner Said Gomez because of the inspiring way they both “have exemplified the spirit of the Paralympians”, the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) said in a statement.
The award was introduced at the 1988 Paralympics in …

A Sunday Times newspaper report says that a bid to bring a South African grand prix back to the F1 calendar is on the cards.
The report says that F1 chief executive Bernie Ecclestone and the Gauteng provincial government have discussed bringing a new race to the Kyalami circuit from 2011 and that a memorandum of understanding could be signed by …

Inspiring South African swimmer Natalie du Toit clinched her 5th gold at the Beijing Paralympics in the tightly contested 50m freestyle event on Sunday.
Du Toit equalled her Athens 2004 gold medal tally when she finished strongly, taking the race by 0.13 of a second in a time of 29.20 - a Paralympic record for her class.
“I enjoyed the race but …

South African pace master Dale Steyn was named Test Player of the Year at the International Cricket Council’s annual awards in Dubai last Wednesday.
The award comes as no surprise considering he has had an amazing test season, continually performing well above expectations; he took 86 wickets at an average of 18.10 in 14 tests in the season.
Illustrating just how amazing …