16 Sep 2014

Botswana’s 400m specialist, Isaac ‘Badman’ Makwala on September 14, cemented his position as one of the best athletes in the world when he rose to the occasion and rescued men’s 4x 400m relay team at the IAAF Continental Cup in Morocco.

When he was handed the baton in the second lap by Kenyan, Boniface Timiti, team Africa was trailing behind, but Makwala surged forward beating all athletes before handing over to Zambian, Saviuor Kombe who did not spoil his hard work, but continued where he left off.

Kombe handed the baton to South Africa Wayde Van Niekerk who finished the race with a personal best time of 3:00:02 ensuring that Team Africa win a gold medal for the team.

Martyn Rooney of Team Europe Lashawn Merritt from Team America finished second and third respectively. Team Europe finished second with 3:00.10 while Team America followed with 3:02:78 and the fourth position went to Team Asia-Pacific with 3:03:77.

Just before the relay, Makwala competed in 200m where he did not do well given that he finished on position six clocking 20.49. But in the 400m race, Makwala was beaten by Merrit and finished in the second position clocking 44:84 while Van Niekerk finished third with 45:27.

Makwala, who specialises in the 400m race, said in an interview that he did not put more effort in the 200m race given that he knew there was yet another big race waiting for him.

Although, he did not do well, he said he felt good after completing the 200m race as he was eyeing the 4x400m relay. Meanwhile, Africa continued its dominance in the 800m race as Botswana athlete, Nijel ‘Zoro’ Amos proved to the continents that the race was his to lose.

Amos finished on position one clocking 1:44.88 while his continent mate from Ethiopia Mohammed Aman finished in position two clocking 1:45.34. The third position went to Adam Kszczot, followed by Mark English both from Europe while position five went to Jeffrey Risley of Asia-Pacific.

Amos, who thanked God for his success, said he did well despite the fact that he had fever last week and only did light training for five days since he was weak.

“Well, I managed, and being around my coach, Jean Verster motivated me so much. He ensured that I regained back my strength every day. We both knew we could win the race easily and it was just a matter of believe and we did it,” he said.

Another athlete who represented Africa from Botswana was Kabelo Kgosiemang who finished on position eight with a jump of 2.18 in the men’s high jump. Ends