Luanda – The second day of the African Swimming Championships (AFCON 2024), held Wednesday was marked by the good performance of the young Angolan swimmer, Rhanya Santos in the 200m backstroke.
The 14-year old athlete finished 8th in the final with the time 2:41.80, beating the previous domestic mark of Catarina Sousa (2:42.52), recorded on May 10, 2015 in Luanda Province.
After the silver medal won by Lia Lima in the opening round of the competition on Tuesday, the Angolans concentrated on the final of the 50m butterfly, where the athlete made progress and placed 5th by improving her personal best from 28.99 to 28.74.
The race was won by the African champion the Algerian Amel Melih with the time of 27.14. The Senegalese Oumy obtained the silver medal with 27.67, followed by Egypt's Sara El Sammany, bronze medal with a time of 27.73.
Angola national team came close to a medal in the mixed 4x100m relay, made up of Salvador Gordo, Djamel Pires, Lia Lima and Maria Freitas, but came fifth with 4:15.65.
The collective challenge which was very competitive was won by the South African with a time of 4:00.86, followed by the Algerians with a time of 4:01.02, while the Egyptians conquered the third place with 4:01.74.
Angola is now in 8th in the medal table with one bronze medal gained by Lia Lima in the 200m butterfly.
In general, the ranking is led by South Africa with six gold medals, five silver medals and four bronze medals, Egypt is the second country with five gold medals, six silver medals and seven bronze medals, Algeria is the third with two gold medals, three silver medals and two bronze medals.
Mauritius is fourth with one gold and Sudan is fifth with the same number of gold medals. Uganda is sixth with one silver and one bronze, and Senegal is seventh with one silver. Ghana and Tunisia are in ninth and tenth place respectively with one bronze each.
The competition, which is taking place in Angola for the first time, runs until May 5.
JAD/MC/MRA/AMP
