13 Sep 2016

While others will be celebrating Christmas with their loved ones at different places, for the 400 metres IAAF World U20 Championships Bronze medalist, Karabo Sibanda, it will be a different story  all together.
The athlete will be preparing for next season, in a quest to qualify for the World Championships to be staged in London, from August 4 to 13 next year.
The Maun-born said in an interview that this time he was not in any position to qualify late for the championships, hence he would start his training as early as November.
He said he struggled to qualify for the Olympics because he was recovering from an injury that almost made him leave athletics forever.
“I was frustrated and I wanted to go back home but my mother told me to hang in there, and my coach Mogomotsi Otsetswe also encouraged me to never lose hope,” he said.
 “Currently it’s now concentration time, eyes on the ball, for me Rio and Poland is now water under the bridge, main focus is World Championships,” he said.
Furthermore, Sibanda who finished on position five in 400 metres at the just ended Rio Olympic Games, said despite not winning a medal at the Games, he was happy that he managed to clock a good time of 44.25.
“To be honest, I missed my training partner Baboloki Thebe in the finals. If he was there we would be saying a different thing, I was scared from the call room and I told Wayde Van Niekerk, who then told me it was too late for me to be scared and that  I must just go on track and run,” he said.
He said after his race Thebe told him they can both challenge Van Niekerk’s World Record next time, adding he believes in his training partner because they always push each other both at training and in major competitions.
Still on Rio experience, the 18-year-old Sibanda said sharing the same track with the likes of Van Niekerk, Kiran James, and LaShawn Merritt was a motivation on its own.
He however said he had realised that they were just athletes like him, and with good preparation he   can match them pound for pound, come World Championships.
Sibanda said his intention was to work very hard to at least make it to the podium in London, adding that anything is possible, with training and focus.
“My coach is the best. I will tell you something I didn’t start the season well because I was in Maun, until he said I must come to Gaborone.
Since then I could see that there was a lot of difference, hence I managed to do well in Poland and finish in the finals in Rio,” he said. ENDS