Montsho, Kgosiemang hope to defend African titles

BOITUMELO KHUTSAFALO
Staff Writer | Wednesday July 14, 2010 00:00

 

The Africa Senior Athletics Championships will be taking place in Nairobi, Kenya from July 28 to August 2. 'I hope to do well because I have been training very hard for this competition. I have been working on speed because that is where I have been lacking and I have confidence that it has improved,' Montsho told Mmegi Sport yesterday before departure to Nairobi. The Botswana runner became Africa's number one in 400m and set a personal best record of 49.83 seconds in Ethiopia in 2008. She has done the country proud in several international competitions. She hopes the youngsters selected to take part at this year's competition will do well saying with proper training, they can be the country's ambassadors in the near future. Montsho will take part in the women's 4 x 400m relay.

Two years ago, Kgosiemang like Montsho,  won an African title with a personal best record of 2.34 metres. This is currently the national record in Botswana.  The athletics team is under the tutelage of Bobby Gaseitsiwe and Sadi Ramolemoge. Gaseitsiwe told Mmegi Sport that he has high hopes that they will do much better than two years ago when only Montsho and Kgosiemang won while the men's 4 x 400m relay team came back with bronze. He pointed out that this year, they have included more women than before to show that Botswana can compete well in the women categories.

He added that they have included young athletes who will be able to flex their muscles even in the 2012 championships. He said this time round, they tried to prepare as early as possible for the event.  Other notable athletes in the team are Fanuel Kenosi, Onalenna Baloyi and Isaac Makwala. Kenosi will compete in the men's 200m and 100m. He was the country's representative at the 2008 Beijing Olympics in the 200m race. Baloyi also represented the country at the Beijing Olympics in the men's 800m. He will run in the same category in Nairobi. Makwala will run the 400m and the 4 x 400m relay.

The rest of the team is as follows: Lydia Mushila (4 x 400m), Tiroyaone Masake (4 x 400m and 400m), Pako Seribe (4 x 400m and 400m), Thapelo Ketlogetswe (4 x 400m and 400m), Sakarea Karembuka (4 x 400m and 400m), Kgalalelo Sefo (4 x 400m and 400m), Senyatseng Nthompe (4 x 400m), Bonolo Maretele (Heptathlon), Mpho Mangope (4 x 400m), Oarabile Babolai (11m Hurdles, 400m hurdles and 4 x 4m), Goitseone Seleka (4 x 400m).