Dina Taljaard was denied an opportunity to compete at the Olympics in 1968 and then the World gymnastics championship, for no fault of hers. Her country, South Africa, was banned from sport because of the apartheid policy.
So when her son got a chance to play at the cricket World Cup, she flew down from Johannesburg to India, taking along with her daughter and grandchildren. She is glad she did: she could watch her son, Sybrand Engelbrecht, scoring a superb 70 lower down the order against Sri Lanka here on Saturday.
She was also there at Dharamshala when the Netherlands scored a historic win, against South Africa. “I decided to come to India when Sybrand was selected in the Netherlands team,” Dina, dressed expectedly in orange, told The Hindu at the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Stadium. “It has been a great experience and exciting to watch him play at the World Cup.”
