Rower Paige Badenhorst and swimmer Erin Gallagher kept their medal hopes alive on the first official day of competition at the Olympic Games , safely progressing through the opening rounds of their events in the morning session on Saturday.
Badenhorst started the day in style for Team SA , taking third place in her single sculls heat in 7:39.19 and booking her place in the quarterfinals to becontested on Tuesday.
In the pool, Gallagher was 13th fastest in the womens 100m butterfly heats, securing a spot in the semifinals to be held on Saturday night (8.30pm).
Meanwhile, on the judo mat, Geronay Whitebooi also got off to a good start, beating Jacqueline Solis of Guatemala in her round of 32 match in the womens -48kg category.
However, the South African judoka was defeated by Natsumi Tsunoda of Japan in the round of 16, missing out on the quarterfinals.
