31 Aug 2015

The Botswana men’s 4 x400 metres relay team will try their luck again in Congo,  Brazzaville in the 11th African Games scheduled for September 4 - 19.

This follows an unsatisfactory performance by the local quartet  who had put up a brave fight with a National Record (NR) of 2:59:95 and ended up on position five on Saturday (August 29), at the just ended IAAF World Championships.

Although, Botswana which was the only African team, did not start well during the race,  Nigel Amos received the baton from Onkabetse Nkobolo who was on position four, but the Marobela born showed that he was hungry for success when he was the first to hand the baton to Leaname Maotoanong leading the pack.

But when Maotoanong handed it to Isaac Makwala their opponents were already not in a compromising mood. First to hit the finish line was United States with a world lead time of 2:58: 13; followed by Trinidad and Tobago with 2:58: 67, position three went to Jamaica with 2:58: 69.

The team captain, Makwala, told BOPA after the race that the race was good although it was very fast.

“We ran good time and if you look at it  2.59.59 always falls in the medal category, this will tell how fast and competitive the heat was, to be honest this year we are disappointed because we could not even make it to the final, but it is part of the competition, it is a learning curve,” he said. ENDS