PBs registered as athletes attempt qualifications
Calistus Kolantsho | Tuesday June 11, 2024 10:41
The battle lines were drawn with athletes vying for a place in the African Athletics Championships team expected to be announced this week. Some of the athletes who delivered PBs despite the windy and cold conditions were Obakeng Kamberuka, clocking 11.65s in the senior women’s 100m and a brilliant 23.52s in the senior women 200m. Kabo Rankgwe stopped the clock in 45.74s after running a brilliant curve into the home stretch, leaving behind Cliffton Meshack and Issac Makwala in 400m. Tshephang Manyika dropped a new PB of 11.66s to claim the women’s 100m heat one. Speaking to SportMonitor, Rankgwe said his plan for the race was to qualify for African Athletics Championships and he managed to do that. “My target was to run 45.00s. I managed to do that despite the strong wind on the back straight but I pushed in order to achieve my target.
Regarding the competition from other athletes, I got used to pressure during the BAA National Championships. My dream now is to be part of the Olympic 4x400m relay team,” Rankgwe said. Rising star, Sethunya Majama, of Lefika Athletics Club blasted to the finish line in the Under 20 women 100m clocking 11.93s beating her close rival, Same Mohutsiwa (Jwaneng Athletics Club)who finished second in 12.09s. Majama continued her dominance winning 200m in heat one in 24.60s while Mohutsiwa claimed the second heat in 25.10s. Majama stamped her ticket to Peru for the World Junior Championships a few weeks ago during the BAA National Championships. She told SportMonitor that her preparations have been going well. “I have been running week in, week out. It has been tough but I am doing well. My races today were fine, the challenge is that I do not have good competition here. I believe that I can run faster times if I have good competition. Qualifying for the World Junior Championships is a huge achievement and I am proud of myself. It is an indication that I am on the right track,” Majama said.
For his part, BAA vice president administration, Oabona Theetso, said although no athlete clocked a qualifying time especially for Olympics, most of them clocked new PBs. “The likes of Rankwe and Majama, it is not all about qualifying. We are unhappy that we have not been able to increase the number of athletes for Olympics. Anthony Pesela did 20.65s in the men’s 200m which is a good time in Africa, it means he can compete in 200m and he can do well at the African Athletics Championships,” he said. Theetso said there was a lot of wind especially in the 400m, with some athletes even complaining about it but in the 400m, wind is not much of a challenge hence there is no wind reading in the distance. Meanwhile, Theetso said the plan is to announce the African Athletics Championships team on Tuesday. He said they intend to send a team of 40 athletes, which is a big number and it means the Botswana National Olympic Committee (BNSC) and Botswana National Sport Commission (BNSC) must play a part.
He said they are still closing the existing gaps but by Tuesday the list must be out.