Basketball

South Aussies Lachlan Olbrich and Yaak Yaak have been selected to join the Basketball Australia Centre of Excellence (CoE) and NBA Global Academy programs for 2021.

Olbrich’s scholarship comes after making the 2020 U18 Metro SA State team, with CoE Men’s Program Head Coach, Adam Caporn, describing him as “a deadly 3-point shooter and smart offensive player”.

Yaak Yaak, who was awarded the NBA Global Academy Scholarship, recently featured in the 2019 NBA Development and 2020 CoE recruitment camps. Caporn described the 16-year-old as “an elite athlete and a very exciting prospect”.

Both athletes will begin their programs on January 29 at the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra.

Beach Volleyball

SA Open 2021

It was an action-packed weekend in the world of beach volleyball thanks to the SA Open held at Glenelg Beach.

The Men’s Division 1 champions, Max Guehrer and Zachary Schubert displayed a dominant performance on their way to the gold medal. The pair did not lose a single game throughout the day, completing the feat in the final where they beat Damien Schumann and Christopher McHugh, 2-1.

The dominance continued in the Women’s Division 1, with Becchara Palmer and Nikki Laird not losing a match on their way to the gold medal, where they easily disposed of Alexandra Friedrich and Anna Donlan, 2-0.

Cycling

Santos Festival of Cycling

The Santos Festival of Cycling kicks off tomorrow night with the sold-out Adelaide Track League at the Adelaide Super-Drome. The event will feature the likes of two-time track world champion Matt Glaetzer, Commonwealth Games gold medallist Sam Welsford and Olympic bronze medallist Annette Edmonson.

The Festival continues on Wednesday with the Norwood Cycling Club’s NCC #notthetdu Criterium and then from Thursday with a four-stage NRS road race as well as BMX, Cyclo-Cross and Cross Country Mountain Biking.

Cricket 

West End Twenty20 Cup

Adelaide University pulled off back to back wins in both the semi and grand finals yesterday at Karen Rolton Oval, crowning themselves the West End Twenty20 Cup Champions.

Both wins were thanks to Benjamin P Wakim’s performance throughout the day. In the semi finals against Woodville he went for 37 runs from 21 balls, helping his team bat for 7/138, beating Woodville’s 8/114.

It was more of the same against Kensington in the grand final, with Wakim going for 49 runs from 32 balls, helping Adelaide University beat Kensington 2/109 to 9/105.

Athletics

Interclub Week 6

It was neck and neck in the seeded men 200m final—Heat 1 on Saturday. Liam Moss and Harrison Hunt put on an intense battle with only 00.09 seconds to split the two. Moss was the one who just had enough, finishing with a time of 21.64, bettering Hunt—ever so slightly— who had to settle for 21.73. Aidan Murphy rounded out the top three with a time of 22.10.

International

The 2021 Australian Track and Field Championships are set to take place in Sydney from April 12-21. The event, which attracts more than 3,500 athletes from across the nation and the Pacific, is the last chance for automatic qualifying for athletes vying for spots at the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Tokyo.

Triathlon

SA Aquathlon Championships

The SA Aquathlon Championship saw more than 100 athletes battle it out for honours on Saturday. Athletes were exposed to an intense course, which consisted of a 2.5km run, 750m swim and another 2.5km run to top it all off.  Christopher Deegan grabbed first place, displaying a comfortable performance by finishing just under two minutes quicker than second place with a time of 00:27:30.6.

Lawn Bowls

Under 18 Championships

The 2021 Under 18 Championships begin today, starting with the Boys and Girls Singles. Held over four days at the Adelaide Bowling Club, the championships will feature just over 80 games before the finals begin on Thursday. Event goers will also able to witness the open pairs on Tuesday and open triples matches on Wednesday.

Football (the roundball kind)

A-League

South Aussie Kerrin Stokes made his A-League debut by helping his side, Melbourne City, trump Western United 2-1. The 18 year old replaced veteran Rostyn Griffiths, who left due to injury in the 38^th minute. The young defender took full advantage of his debut, ensuring City would only concede the one goal—which was scored before he entered the game. The result sees his team make it two wins from three games.

Rowing

2021 Small Boat and Grade Regatta

More than 50 individual events were run on Saturday at the Small Boat and Grade Regatta at the Alex Ramsay Regatta Course. The day showcased many impressive displays, but none better than in Division 1: Under 19 women’s single scull. Loreto Marryatville 1 finished the 2000m event in a time of 8:47.14, which was 56.67 seconds quicker than second-placed Torrens at 9:43.81. Third-placed Loreto Marryatville 4 rounded off the top three, finishing more than a minute behind first placed with a time of 9:52.55.