GUMEDE SHINES IN CAPE TOWN AS ANOTHER BPL STAR CALLS IT QUITS, SOME HOPE FOR ADEN…
With the season winding up and pressure mounting, it was make or break time for some of your favorite athletes and it got too hot for comfort for one athlete in particular. The mercury rose to boiling point in the league and things started shaping up rather as you had come to expect. It is by now no surprise that GP makes up 80% of the bottom five in the Premier Division and the fact that Kyle is statistically the Champion this time around and Sandile Madlala quitting the league and donating 6 points each to Yulan and Kyle all in one weekend didn’t do much to stabilize things. What a time to quit the league, Sandile was perched precariously on the edge at 9th position on the log going into the fateful weekend and his lack of action exacerbated matters and twisted the tale at the top. Charl in particular would feel hard-done by Legacy quitting, had Sandile played Kyle perhaps the Assassin would have some breathing space but lo and behold, as the saying goes, it never rains but pours. Charl didn’t do himself any solace by losing to relegation prone Aden Joseph. A win would have kept him clear but now he finds himself tied at 78 points with the Viper whereas the latter has a game to spare.
It has really been a fairy-tale season for Kyle and if he keeps his form up we might have a story to tell, the same wind that is blowing for Leicester City FC seems to have its origins in Durban in the case of young Akaloo. Losing to eventual Champion Yacoob Shaik in the Semi-finals at the South African National Championships at the Carnival City was another reason why Kyle can no longer be thought of as a teenager that’s trying to make his mark but a serious contender who is not far from dominance and only time will tell his tale (THE BPL IS VERY PROUD TO CONGRATULATE ONE OF OUR FLAG BEARERS ON BEING CROWNED MENS SINGLES CHAMPION… WELL DONE YACOOB, YOU HAVE LONG BEEN A CHAMPION, IT WAS ABOUT TIME INDEED). Kyle took out former World Champion and current African Champion Mr. Wetsi Morake among other big names in his campaign to show his statement of intent. Could Charl have been exhausted after the long drive from PE to Bloemfontein? Well whatever the case was the fact is that he lost 2-0 to Aden and well it happened more than once in the same weekend… Charl got involved in a few local competitions in Bloemfontein and lost again to Aden in some final there and Zander Kriel also got the better of Mr. Jonck at some stage and this literally set precedence for a horrible campaign at the national championships for Charl as he went on to lose unceremoniously to another BPL rising star Keenan Adams in the very first round of the land’s biggest spectacle and the host Mr. Darren ‘Whackhead’ Simpson of the 94.7 Breakfast Express fame sparred very little salt in the aftermath, he took a jab at the Assassin and highlighted that he at least lost in the second round to a seasoned Yulan Govender . The recent events now place Aden at 8th position momentarily and this means the now former SA champ is in a position to playoff against the third placed athlete from the first Division a with Legacy calling it quits, who knows maybe Aden might just be saved from taking the long shameful walk down the thin plank.
It took a trip to the Cape for Chilies to finally give his best side against Paul and Ace. Gumede is by far one of the most underrated players in the league but we have always warned that he does pack a very mean punch bar the position that he occupies on the log; in the BPL every player is a champion and anyone can roast the turkey when called upon to do so. It was never going to be easy taking on the Cape’s finest in their own background but the GP contingent didn’t disappoint. The spoils were evenly shared on Saturday when Gumede saw off the Gentleman and Vishen succumbed to Ace only for the visitors to turn up the heat on Sunday to make a clean sweep at the mother city. Vishen was heard saying that he didn’t exactly play well but PauL was missing everything. Maybe Mr. Bennett had the SA title in his mind already and he might have been struggling at multitasking. Gumede’s brilliant showing down under earns him the Sheriff’s Toast of the week. It seems the Chillies haven’t lost flavor after all but his followers still yearn for that coveted singles title which seems to always elude Gumede somewhat but hope will keep that dream alive. It could be delayed but certainly not denied, keep on keeping on Mr.
There were a couple of bonus points in that last weekend and Deon Daniels also registered his to shrug off Leenash Padayachee who had got the better of his travelling partner in the first leg in PE. With this performance, Deon who has literally had a terrible season finds himself in 5th place with a couple of games to spare and in line for a top three finish.
Keenan the giant slayer managed to keep up his good run as Thami’s replacement by beating Pieter Rademeyer 2-1 in PE and this is totally different a story to that of Thami who has struggled to find his bearings in the First Division. Riaesh redeemed himself against Zaid but hit a brick wall in the form of Mabuti who is poised to get back on top. Mabuti didn’t stop there, he also won his match against Kevin Seseane who did well to secure a set. Kevin must have been in awesome form, he went on to win convincingly against Zaid Kara who must have been very rusty this weekend as everyone augmented their position on the log curtesy of his dreary display. Mabuti pounced on his opponents like a ton of bricks and literally bulldozed past them and with this showing he earns the Sheriff’s joint Toast of the week. Riaesh did very well to reach the last 16 at the recent Nationals, perhaps that was the confidence booster that he needed and it could be enough to see him turn a corner and manage to pull through.
THE BPL WOULD LIKE TO TAKE THIS MOMENT TO CONGRATULATE CHARL, KEEGAN, TOGIED, YACOOB AND ACE FOR MAKING THE CUT IN THE MENS TOP FIVE AND THE REST OF THE WINNERS AT THE RECENT BLACKBALL SA’s.
THE BPL NEVER DISAPPOINTS!!!
