As the sun began to sink on day two of the 2026 Dakar Youth Olympic Games, Team SA will have swimmer Leah Markgraaff for getting the medals momentum, while the boys Sevens squad flexed their muscles ahead of what’s to come on the rugby field.

Markgraaff rightly claimed all the headlines for winning silver in the 400m freestyle, touching the wall at the end of eight laps in 3min 26.13sec, but the Sevens boys laid down a marker to the rest of the countries in competition in the fourth Youth Olympics, this one being held in the Senegalese capital and on African soil for the first time.

The rugby sevens squad cruised through their Pool A games, defeating Senegal 43-5, Canada 24-17, and Germany 34-7 to book a semi-final spot.

They scored seven tries against Senegal, four against Canada (Darnell Delport and Dandre Brink earning two apiece) and sixc against Germany (Brink again with two tries, along with Dave Jake).

Afterwards, coach Sandile Ngcobo, reflected on a hard fought day. “I thought we started well in our first match and hit a bit of a bump again Canada, but games like that help teach us valuable lessons. We know we have to face France or Argentina in the semi-final tomorrow which we are looking forward to. Playing against the top teams is the best way to measure ourselves, so we’re feeling ready for Monday.”

Team SA are heavily favoured to win a medal. The topped a pool consisting of Canada, Germany and Senegal, while Pool B had France, Argentina, Japan and Uganda in the line-up.

Badminton got under way with Misha Bredell narrowly losing to the Algerian Oussama Keddou 2-0 (21-17, 21-10).

The beach volleyball pair of Evra King and Duncan Davids, finished their pool games with a 2-0 (21-13, 21-10) loss to Chile, and a 2-0 (21-15, 21-11) loss to Nicaragua, to conclude their Youth Olympic journey.

Monday promises plenty more action as the rugby sevens team will be taking on Argentina or France in the semi-final for a place in the final later in the day. 

Callum Dreyer will be back in action for the round of 16 in the rowing coastal beach sprints, and Misha Bredell will be competing against the No4 seed from Chinese Taipei Chuang Yung Neng in his second group stage match, and the judoka Adriaan Schutte will be competing in the -81kg round of 16. 

Photo: Frennie Shivambu