Ryk off to a golden start

GOLDEN START: Ryk Neethling of South Africa celebrates after winning the gold in the men's 200m freestyle final during day one of the Fina World Short Course Swimming Championships (25m) held at Qi Zhong Stadium in Shanghai, China. Picture: TOUCHLINE

South Africa's Ryk Neethling got his World Short Course Championships campaign off to a golden start with a podium-topping performance in the 200m freestyle in Shanghai yesterday.

Neethling managed to just sneak in ahead of Italy's Filippo Magnini who reached the wall 0,27 of a second after the South African star who finished in 1:43,51.

While Neethling's time is not a particularly speedy one (his personal best in the event is 1:42,75), this is hopefully the first of a possible four medals at these Championships in China.
- Sapa