Relay teams fail to qualify
Calistus Kolantsho | Friday July 21, 2023 15:32
The team registered a time of 3:20.87 finishing behind Kenya who won the race in 3:15.94, while Zimbabwe came third in 3:37.03. The qualification time for 4x400m mixed relay was 3:14.00.
The qualifying format is that the first eight placed teams at the 2022 Oregon World Athletics Championships automatically qualify and the best ranked teams at the end of July 21 qualification period will fill the eight remaining places according to the best performances. Yesterday was the deadline for relays and the deadline for individual qualifications is July 30.
The Botswana team comprised Cliffton Meshack (first leg), Lydia Jele (second leg), Pako Seribe (third leg), and Tlhomphang Basele (anchor). Seribe was brought in to replace Anthony Pesela who did not compete due a knee injury. Speaking to Mmegi Sport, Seribe said it was unfortunate that Botswana mixed relay team had missed out on qualification.
“The challenge is preparations, we last held competition in May during the BAA National Championships. The entire June nothing was happening. We have not been active. We just have to try again next season; this was the last day of the qualification,” he said. For his part, Meshack said he did his part in the relay. When he made the exchange, the team was still in a good position to qualify. “It was up to the rest of the team members to do the rest. I had one thing in mind, to run a good split, 44:00 high and 45:00, I achieved that.
This is not a lesson to me, it is a lesson to the association. They should start doing things on time. There was a time when the team went to compete at the Kenya National Championships.
If they believed that I could assist the team, they should have taken me there, not now,” he said. Meshack said yesterday was too late for him to be expected to rescue the team because other athletes that were expected to compete were absent. The BAA also failed to send a team to push for qualification last weekend in Nairobi due to lack of funds. When the mixed relay team competed during the Lefika International Relays held in June, it had Baboloki Thebe, Obakeng Kamberuka, and Laone Ditshetelo.
The team had clocked 3:15.29, placing it in the qualifying bracket.