Botswana trio target Continental Cup medals
Thato Kala | Thursday August 21, 2014 10:49
Makwala, who won two individual medals and a 4 x 400 relay gold at the Africa event, resumed preparations in Germany yesterday and has vowed his 2014 medal haul is not about to stop.
The two-time 400m African champion wants to cap a good year with a Continental Cup medal.
“I am not done collecting medals yet, I am aiming for more medals until the end,” Makwala told Mmegi Sport from Germany.
He has six competitions, three of them Diamond Leagues to increase his medal tally. He has been resting after the Glasgow Commonwealth Games and Africa Championships and only started training on Tuesday.
His next assignment is the Diamond League in Birmingham on Sunday.
Kgosiemang, a gold winner in the high jump at the Africa Championships will link up with his coach in South Africa to prepare for his final 2014 competition.
“I am back in Germany, but I will go back to Johannesburg to join my coach and prepare for the Continental Cup.
We will then leave together for Morocco to join the rest of the team,” he said.
In 2010, he missed a medal in the same competition when he finished fourth.
“The preparations are going pretty fine and my main target is to make it into the top three and improve my last position where I came fourth in 2010. I will go there and do my best,” he said.
Kgosiemang believes African athletes already have an advantage now that they know the weather and venue in Morocco.
“We know the weather and the state of the stadium so the only thing for us is to get prepared and stay focused,” he said.
Amos will be hoping for his fourth gold in a major competition this year when he takes part in the Continental Cup after wins in the Commonwealth Games and a double in the African Championships.
The Continental Cup was formerly known as IAAF World Cup and takes place every four years. It is contested by four continental teams from Africa, America, Asia Pacific and Europe.
The two-day competition will see each continent enter two athletes in every event, except relays where one team will compete with not more than one athlete from a country per race.