South Africa has ended the country’s 12-year wait for gold, beating Uganda 3-2 to earn the opportunity to represent Africa at the BWF Cup Finals in China, at Badminton Confederation Africa’s All Africa Team Champs at the Cairo International Stadium in Egypt, on Thursday, 15 February, 2024.
The duo of Deidré Laurens and Diané Oliver came from behind to overcome Uganda 3-2.
Third singles Johanita Scholtz however started South Africa’s restoration with a 21-11, 21-14 win over Fadilah Shamika Mohamed Rafi.
It was a complete team effort however as the doubles pairings of Amy Ackerman/Laurens and Megan de Beer/Scholtz put two more points on the board to seal the gold medal victory, handing the South Africans a record-extending sixth title, and the first since 2012.
To book a place in the final, the South Africans first needed to move past Nigeria, and this they did, earning a tenacious 3-2 win.
Zainab Alabi lost to Johanita Scholtz by 0-2 (7-21, 11-21) before Sofiat Obanisola made it 1-1 with a win over Diané Oliver 2-0 (21-13, 21-10). Dorcas Adesokan gave Nigeria a deserved lead after beating Deidré Laurens 2-0 (21-15, 21-15).
South Africa’s Megan de Beer and Johanita Scholtz levelled up after beating Nigeria’s Deborah Ukeh and Ramatu Yakubu 2-1 (21-16, 8-21, 21-18), before snatching victory with the win from Amy Ackerman and Deidré Laurens beating Dorcas Adesokan and Sofiat Obanisola 2-1 (17-21, 21-12, 21-15).
The winning nations will represent the continent at the TotalEnergies BWF Thomas & Uber Cup Finals 2024 in Chengdu, China in April.
The players will return to contest the individual events, with the final slated for Sunday.
Click here to view the full results (external website)
Main Photo Caption: Team South Africa’s (from left) Amy Ackerman, Diané Olivier, Johanita Scholtz, Megan de Beer and Deidré Laurens have won the All Africa Senior Women’s Team Championships at the Cairo International Stadium in Egypt, on Thursday, 15 February, 2024, qualifying for the Finals in China from 28 April – 5 May. Photo: Deidré Laurens on Instagram
Photos 2-5 Captions: Having beaten Uganda 3-2 to win gold at the All-Africa Team Championships for the first time since 2012, SA have qualified for the WBF Finals in China from 28 April – 5 May. Photo: Badminton Africa on Instagram
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