Four from CX off to Commonwealth Games

KNYSNA NEWS - Less than a year after the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, our little corner of the world will once again be strongly represented on the international sporting stage at the upcoming Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, UK.

Four Knysna/Plett sports stars will be showing the world what they're made of between 28 July and 3 August - Aimee Canny (swimming) and Sam Mvimbi (hockey) who took part in last year's Olympics, with the addition of Zandile Masuku who was recently named part of the SA Women's Sevens squad for the first time, and rugby veteran Mathrin Simmers.

While Simmers has been to the 2018 Commonwealth Games, the remaining three young sports stars will be taking part in the Commonwealth Games for the very first time.

Aimee Canny

Canny (18) was entered into a variety of events for the Commonwealth Games - 200m freestyle, 4x100m freestyle relay, mixed 4x100m freestyle relay, 4x200m freestyle relay, 100m freestyle, 200m individual medley, 4x100m medley relay, and the mixed 4x100m medley relay. It is worth noting that the final relay teams will only be decided at the Games themselves.

She is going into the Com-monwealth Games with four senior South African and African records to her name - 4×100m freestyle relay, 4×200m freestyle relay, 4×100m medley relay and 200m freestyle (short course). The 4x200m freestyle relay record was set at the Tokyo Olympics where the team finished sixth.

Aimee Canny during training in Knysna. Photo: Blake Linder

Sam Mvimbi

For Mvimbi (23), the Common-wealth Games come three months after he returned to the SA set-up following a break after the Olympics. Since his return against Argentina on 23 April in the FIH Pro League, he has played a further seven games in the Pro League, as a regular starter for the side.

He also has a total of 29 caps for South Africa ahead of the Commonwealth Games, and two goals for his country - the first he scored against Canada at the Tokyo Olympics and the second was scored in one of their two test matches against Wales played in the build-up to the Games. Mvimbi will therefore be heading into the Games on a high.

Sam Mvimbi in his SA kit before the Tokyo Olympics. Photo: Maritz Verwey

Zandile Masuku

Masuku (23) is the "greenest behind the gills" of all the Knysna athletes taking part in the Commonwealth Games. Before her inclusion in the Springbok Women's Sevens Commonwealth Games training squad in June and July, she had never been a part of any national rugby structures.

She has however played a healthy amount of rugby for Limpopo Blue Bulls and the Blue Bulls while growing up in Tzaneen, Limpopo, and SWD since her move to Knysna in 2020. Masuku also played club rugby in Spain for Gaztedi Rugby Taldea. On 21 July Masuku was selected, for the first time, as one of the 13 players to represent Imbokodo, as the team is known, in Birmingham.

An overjoyed Zandile Masuku in the Commonwealth village in Birmingham.

Mathrin Simmers

The most experienced of the four Knysna athletes at this year's Commonwealth Games, Simmers (34) made her debut for Imbokodo in 2012 and has been representing the SA Women's Sevens team consistently in the decade since. She has also been handed the captain's armband on a few occasions, and remains the only Knysna local to captain an SA rugby side.

Simmers most recently played for Imbokodo against Spain in the Toulouse leg of the 2021/22 World Rugby Women's Sevens Series. She has played in 12 World Rugby Women's Sevens Series tournaments and numerous other tournaments along the way (caps are not counted in sevens rugby, only tournaments).

Mathrin Simmers at the 2019 TWRA Knysna 7s Tournament. Photo: Blake Linder