Team SA Squad Named for 2022 World Games

A total of 23 athletes across nine different sports have been announced by governing body SASCOC to fly the Team SA flag at the 2022 World Games to be held in Birmingham, Alabama (not to be confused with the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games which begins later this month).

Olympic medallist Bridgitte Hartley and veteran Andrew Birkett are two stand-out names who will be competing in the canoe marathon event during the Games which will be held from 7-17 July.

Another familiar name is Christopher Cross, who represented Team SA in sport climbing at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics where the sport made its debut and was received with enthusiasm by observers.

The nine sports that will be represented by Team SA athletes in Birmingham are aero sport, archery, canoeing, duathlon, gymnastics, powerlifting, sport climbing, tenpin bowling and water skiiing. The chef de mission is SASCOC Board member Kim Pople.

The World Games are held every four years between Olympics and this will be Team SA’s fifth appearance at these Games. In 2005 they won five medals, in 2009 there were three medals, in 2013 there were four and in 2017 there was one medal. The Birmingham Gams were postponed by a year due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

For the first time in the history of the World Games, one para-sport is included – wheelchair rugby.

Team SA leaves for Birmingham today, 4 July.

The full list of Team SA athletes is for the World Games is:

AERO SPORT
Men: Chris Teague

ARCHERY
Men: Christian de Klerk, Folkers Herholdt
Women: Gerda Roux, Jeanine van Kradenburg

CANOEING
Men: Andrew Birkett
Women: Bridgitte Hartley

DUATHLON
Men: Jonathan Benjamin, Dylan Kruger
Women: Natalie Sterk

GYMNASTICS
Women: Shannon Gardiner, Tvetina Aleksandrova

POWERLIFTING
Men: Henk de Wet
Women: Magdalena Rees

SPORT CLIMBING
Men: Christopher Cosser
Women: Mel Janse van Rensburg, Lauren Mukheiber

TENPIN BOWLING
Men: Jiveshkar Sewchuran, Cherng Ju, Stephen Ekermans
Women: Gitabalie Soorajla, Ursula Ekermans

WATER SKIING
Men: Travis Fisher

Source: TeamSA