19 Jun 2018

Failure of the electronic timing to work during the Botswana Athletics Association (BAA) track and field competitions denied some athletes a chance to qualify for the Under 20 World Championships and Confederation of African Athletics (CAA) southern region senior championships.

The competition was the last one in the BAA calendar, and it was meant to give junior and senior athletes a final chance to qualify.

Despite assembling trained electronic timing officials, the timer did not budge and the association had to continue without the timer. Events such as 100, 200 and 400 metres, an athlete can only qualify if electronic timer is used.

The IAAF World U-20 Championship entry rules state that hand-timed performances for events up to and including 800m will not be accepted and wind assisted performances of over 2m/sec will also not be accepted.

BAA vice president, Kenneth Kikwe said they did their best to set the electronic timer but that it failed to respond, adding that they had to continue with the event because some events such as high jump did not use the electronic timer.

The focus then turned to high jump where Tshwanelo Aabobe mesmerised spectators with his good jumping technique.

At the end, he proved that he was ready to take over from one of Botswana’s finest jumper, Kabelo Kgosiemang. He jumped 2.15 metres followed by Aobakwe Nkobela with 2.05 metres and third was Logic Motshwaredi who jumped 2.00 metres.

Aabobe said he was happy with his performance, adding that most of his competitors in Africa jumped around 2.20.

“On a good day, I can do 2.25 metres and I am looking forward to do better at the CAA Southern region senior championships,” he said.

He noted that high jump was a special field which needed a special coach, adding that in Botswana most of the time the event was coached by a track coach, saying it was hampering the development of high jump.

He said for high jumpers to be coached by track coaches was always a challenge on the technical side, adding that to correct a high jumper needed somebody who was more knowledgeable about the event.

However, Kikwe said they had since requested for funds from Botswana National Olympic Committee so that they could have a field events coach.

“BNOC has promised to support us and we have already submitted recommendations to their office,” he said.

He said the lack of such a coach might also dampen the long jumpers’ spirit. ENDs