SPORT - The African Mirror

Mar

31

2021

Bafana Bafana coach fired after failing to qualify for AFCON

SPORT

AFRICAN MIRROR REPORTER THE South African Football Association (SAFA) has fired coach Molefi Ntseki after the team failed to qualify for the 2022 AFCON tournament in Cameroon. The national football team - Bafana Bafana - lost 0-2 to Sudan in a match which they needed just a point to qualify for the AFCON. SAFA CEO Teboho Motlanthe announced that SAFA’s national executive committee met this morning and agreed, throught a vote, to terminate Ntseki’s contract. Motlanthe said he, as head of administration, would attend to all the legalities associated with the decision to part ways with the national coach. He…

Mar

31

2021

By The African Mirror

All set for Basketball Africa League kick-off

SPORT

BOITUMELO RANTAO THE inaugural edition of the Basketball Africa League (BAL) will take place from May 16-30 in Kigali, Rwanda. BAL was initially set to start in March 2020, yet was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The league will carry on with BAL implementing health and safety protocols in line with the World Health Organization and the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. BAL is the NBA’s first partnership with another organization to organize a basketball league outside North America. The league announced an adjusted schedule for the inaugural edition of the competition - with 26 games all…

Mar

29

2021

By The African Mirror

Hamilton wins dramatic duel in the desert

SPORT

AFRICAN MIRROR REPORTER LEWIS Hamilton was extra impressed with the win because, as a seven-time world champion, he knows how close his victory at the Bahrain season opener was, just a mere 0.7 seconds ahead of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen. The tight race and the scintillating finish is what F1 race drivers live for. And the special skills set and class to hold on by the skin of his teeth to win the race is what separated Hamilton from Verstappen on the day. “I love the challenge. I love this sport. What a way to start the season. Today is…

Mar

27

2021

By The African Mirror

Verstappen gets 1st pole of 2021

SPORT

BOITUMELO RANTAO RED Bull’s Max Verstappen has claimed the season’s first pole, after a stunning driving display which also served as warning to defending champions in the Mercedes camp. Verstappen qualified in first place in Bahrain, ahead of 7-time world champion Lewis Hamilton and teammate Valteri Bottas. Verstappen was pleased with his performance but looks forward to lights out. “We had a great testing week but there are no guarantees it translates to race weekends. The car has been working really well and of course I'm happy with the pole. I'm looking forward to tomorrow. We need to get a…

Mar

25

2021

By The African Mirror

New golden age for Côte D’Ivoire

SPORT

BOITUMELO RANTAO MAY 2013 marked the peak Côte D’Ivoire reached in the FIFA Rankings after the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) tournament in the same year. Gleefully, an enthusiastic glow hovers around the 2021 team - star studded with talent hungry to surpass the triumph of the generation before them. The 2013 team, consisting of all-time top scorer Didier Drogba and Premier league star Yaya Toure, reached 12th among the world’s best. The current Côte D’Ivoire team is ranked 61st, as of 20 March 2021, with high-level talent honouring the trend of Ivorian footballing success. The present-day squad features AC…

Aug

09

2020

By The African Mirror

Verstappen claims first win of the season

SPORT

BOITUMELO RANTAO RED Bull’s brave strategy paid off as Max Verstappen stormed past the chequered flag in first place after a fantastic drive from fourth in the British Grand Prix, a race that celebrated Formula One’s 70 years. Both Mercedes’ experienced tyre issues and found themselves responding to the quicker Red Bull, finishing in second and third. A late pit stop from last week’s race winner Lewis Hamilton saw him pass teammate Valtteri Bottas, who started on pole, with five laps to go. Ferrari experienced a mixed outing at Silverstone. Charles Leclerc endured a tough race to come home a…

Aug

09

2020

By The African Mirror

South African Brad Binder claims historic MotoGP win

SPORT

BOITUMELO RANTAO SOUTH African Brad Binder shocked the motorsport world by claiming his first MotoGP win at the Czech Republic Grand Prix in Brno. The first year MotoGP rider became the first South African to win MotoGP’s premier division and the first rookie to win a MotoGP race since 2013 in only his third Grand Prix start. “This is a day I’ve dreamed about since I was a little boy. Today, it came true. I really wish my parents were here because they were the ones that backed me from the beginning. “I can't thank my team enough. They put…

Aug

08

2020

By The African Mirror

Bottas pips Lewis Hamilton to 70th Anniversary Grand Prix pole

SPORT

BOITUMELO RANTAO VALTERRI Bottas pipped teammate and defending world champion Lewis Hamilton to 70th anniversary Grand Formula Prix pole in an exciting qualifying, but the talk at the paddock was Racing Point’s Nico Hulkenberg, who stormed to a third spot on the grid. Bottas' excellent drive meant that Hamilton lost out on his 92nd career pole by just six hundredths of a second. Hulkenberg, who did not start last week because of engine problems, caught many by surprise and came hours after his team was fined 15 points for 5 points in the constructors' championship and fined 400,000 Euros, for illegally…

Aug

06

2020

By The African Mirror

Bottas extends his stay with Mercedes

SPORT

AFRICAN MIRROR CORRESPONDENT Top Formula One driver Valtteri Bottas will continue to partner world champion Lewis Hamilton, at least until the end of the 2021 season. Their team, Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team, has announced that it has agreed with Bottas that he will stay on until at least the end of the 2021 Formula One season. Valtteri Bottas The extension means that Bottas will complete his fifth consecutive season, with Mercedes, a team he joined in 2017. He has scored eight wins and 12 pole positions with the team, as well as 39 of his 48 F1 podium finishes. In…

Aug

06

2020

By The African Mirror

SA striker unveiled at top Belgian club

SPORT

BOITUMELO RANTAO TOP South African striker Percy Tau has received a warm welcome to his new club Anderlecht. Club coach Vincent Kompany, the ex-Manchester City captain who won successive English Premier League (EPL) titles, gave Tau a personal welcome and declared that he would push the strike to be the best player he can be. Kompany, who retired last year, returned to his country, Belgium and joined the Anderlecht as player-manager. He told Tau. “ "You said you've come here for the next step so we are going to push you to become the best player you can be. I…