A horse racing meeting in Durban on Monday marked the return of live sport to South Africa two months into a national lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic.

It was the first sporting event since 26 March as the government downgraded the five-tier shutdown from level four to three and permitted non-contact sport behind closed doors.

The all-weather Greyville track hosted the races, which featured 12- or 14-horse fields.

Tromso, a 22/1 outsider ridden by Thabiso Gumede , was the shock winner of the opening race, a 1 000m maiden plate, ahead of 8/11 favourite Thomas Henry.

Football, rugby and cricket have been given permission by the government to resume training, but no dates to restart playing.

The Absa Premiership, the richest African national football league, hopes to complete its season by 31 July - a tall order given some clubs have nine matches to play.

South Africa want to host India in a money-spinning three-match one-day international cricket series during August.

Official health ministry figures released Sunday said 32 683 people had been infected by the Covid-19 disease in South Africa with 683 deaths.