17 May 2021

Norman Chibane of Lefhika Athletics Club (LAC) has qualified for the Africa Senior Championships.

This follows his 7.98m jump at the Botswana Athletics Association (BAA) National Championships in Gaborone over the weekend.

Speaking during an interview on Sunday, LAC jump coach, Nannie Magwamba said the club was excited about the qualification, saying they worked hard for it.

The coach noted that the jumper was making good progress as well as showing signs of preparedness and readiness to qualify.

She noted that during the Saturday long jump, he registered all the jumps to make a final jump of 7.98m while the qualifying jump was 7.85m.

Magwamba noted that on Sunday Chibane, 22, also did well in the triple jump, becoming the top man after jumping 15.56m while the qualifying time for the triple jump is 16m.

She said they worked hard to keep the athlete in good form, adding, however, that COVID-19 had negatively impacted their delivery.

She noted that during their preparations, they asked BNSC to open the Lobatse Sports Complex because the jumper was only focusing on speed without jumps and that they were given three days per week to use the facility.

Magwamba noted that Chibane’s qualification meant a lot to him as he could end up qualifying for Tokyo 2020 if he could beat 7.98m.

The coach said to prepare for the championships they would have to consider training daily, noting that they would still use the Lobatse Sports Complex to give the jumper time to prepare.

For his part, Chibane applauded the coach’s efforts in helping him train to qualify for the championships, noting that he managed to do something positive despite COVID-19 challenges.

He noted that he managed to maintain his streak of qualifying ever since the beginning of the BAA track and field although he used to record no jumps.

Chibane noted that since he had qualified for the championships, it would up his game to qualify for Tokyo 2020 despite the injury he sustained during the triple jump.

The long jumper noted that most field athletes could qualify if they were encouraged to participate in major local events.

In the junior long jump women, Kendy Theetso of University of Botswana Athletics Club jumped 5.21m to emerge the winner followed by Mpho Sekate who jumped 4.69m.ENDS