Amos bags gold at All Africa debut
Kabelo Boranabi | Friday September 18, 2015 14:45
The 2015 Diamond League winner finished with a time of 1:50:45 in his first appearance at the AAG. In second place was Olympic 1,500m champion, Taoufik Makhloufi with a time of 1:50:72, while Kenya’s Job Kinyor finished third in 1:50:79.
Amos was the favourite to clinch the title as his opponents, Mohammed Aman of Ethiopia and World champion, David Rudisha of Kenya were absent. The Marobela-born runner faced little competition from fellow countryman, Boitumelo Masilo who clocked a personal best of 1:46:80 seconds in the heats and Algerian Taoufik Makhloufi who ran 1:43:50.
However, the stage seemed a little too big for the 20-year-old Masilo as he finished last in 1:52:35.
Winning the title served as consolation of some sort for Amos who contrary to expectations, failed to make the finals of the World Championships in Beijing.
Amos used his usual running strategy where he let his opponents take the lead in the first 600m, then used his full sprint speed in the last 200m.
Meanwhile, the men’s 4x400m relay, which comprised of AAG 400m champion Makwala and bronze medalist Onkabetse Nkobolo, Pako Seribe and Leaname Maotoanong cruised to the final, which were scheduled for last night.
The team finished in second place, in a time of 3:05:55, behind the Kenyan team, which clocked 3:04:72 in the semi-final.
The women’s relay team also made it to the final as well as long jumpers, Kabelo Kgosiemang and Gobi Takobana.
The Botswana team has collected 11 medals; two gold, three silver and six bronze medals, nine shy of the 20 medal target.
The country still has hopes in increasing the medal tally in table tennis, judo, and taekwando.