Athletics Team Trains In Germany For World Championships

MOSAH MOKGANEDI
Correspondent | Monday July 27, 2009 00:00

 

The team has 11 athletes - four women and seven men - will be under Bobby Gaseitsiwe. Senegal-based Olympic Games 400m finalist Amantle Montsho, Kgalalelo Sefu, Seonyatseng Ntlhomphe and Irene Motonge are in the women team while the men's team has Isaac Makwala, Fanuel Kenosi, Obakeng Gwigwa, Onalenna Baloyi, Zacharia Kamberuka, high jumper Kabelo Kgosiemang and the long jumper Gable Garenamotse. Like Montsho, Makwala and Kenosi are based in Senegal.

The athletes will train in Germany until August 11 for the World Championships, which start on August 13.

Gaseitsiwe explained that they wanted to leave earlier for the games to acclimatise but that has not been possible because of financial constraints. He said  the relay teams failed to qualify for the World Championships due to injuries that affected their training schedule.

Gaseitsiwe said he is confident Botswana will do well at the event because the rest of the athletes have trained well.

'With us training is a process and we do not just wait for competitions to train,' he explained.

He said the team has been to the World Championships and knows what to expect.
Botswana has never won a medal at the world event. The best performance by the country's athletes has been reaching the quarterfinals. Gaseitsiwe said the German government sponsored their trip to Dusseldorf.