16 Feb 2016

Shepherd Kenatshele has made an impassioned plea for Botswana Athletics Association (BAA) to select him for Olympic Games qualifying competitions in his favourite 800 metres event.

Speaking in an interview after winning the National Cross Country Championships title on Saturday, the 27-year-old SSKB Athletics Club star was confident of qualifying for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games’ 800m event if he were to get an opportunity to compete in qualifying.

Kenatshele expressed frustration at having been overlooked by BAA selectors even though he has proved himself in 800m and has consistently recorded good times.

He said his ambition is to run in Rio de Janeiro at the biggest sports showpiece event this year.

“I am yearning for the Olympics.  If I can be given a chance to run in 800m like others have, I believe I can make it to the Olympics.

There are some athletes from the region who regularly come to compete in our local championships and I always beat them. But they were selected to represent their countries at big events like the Southern Region Championships and the All Africa Games while I was overlooked by BAA,” Kenatshele said.

He said he was baffled by his treatment by the BAA, questioning the criteria used to exclude him from the team that competed at the All Africa Games in Congo last year. “My best time in 800m was 1 minute and 48 seconds, but BAA said I should have run 1 minute 47 seconds to qualify for selection for the All Africa Games. But they selected someone who ran 1 minute 52 seconds to represent the country in Congo,” the athlete charged.

Contacted for clarification, BAA secretary general, Legojane Kebaitse rebuffed the athlete’s claims of favouritism. Kebaitse said the minimum qualifying time for the Olympics is 1 minute 46 seconds. automatically ruled out by his time of 1 minute 48 seconds. Ends