Blast from the past: Fiess rifles his way to record-equaller

Today in SA sports history: October 19

1954 — Jake Tuli, already considered to be on the wane despite being only 23 years old, loses his Empire flyweight title to unbeaten Welshman Dai Dower on points over 15 rounds at Harringay Stadium in London. The winner had been promised a world title crack, though that materialised only in 1957, with Dower getting knocked out in one round.

1970 — Manfred Fiess, an instrument maker from Pretoria who had been shooting for only two years, equals the world record with a score of 598 out of 600 to win the men’s rifle prone competition at the shooting world championships in Phoenix, US. Ann de Vos gave SA a second medal at the tournament, claiming silver in the women’s 50m rifle prone with a score of 591, just one point behind winner Desanka Perovic of Yugoslavia. The Roodepoort markswoman also finished fourth in the women’s 10m air rifle, scoring the same number of points as the silver and bronze medallists. At his next world championship four years later, Fiess scored 596 to finish fifth. He continued competing for a quarter of a century and was still good enough to make the podium at the African championships in 1993 and 1995...