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.
