01 Sep 2024

As the Lima, Peru World Athletics Junior Championship ended on Saturday, Botswana team would return home empty handed.

The country sent 12 athletes competing in different events; three relay teams, 4x 400 mixed relay, 4 x400 men’s relay and 4 x100 women’s relay, Ernest Kumevu and Thabang Monggthipa in 400 metres and Sethunya Majama who was competing in the 200 metres.

Only 4 x 400 metres men under 20 managed to make it to the finals, where they were disqualified under rule TR 24.19 that stipulate thus for all takeovers, athletes are not permitted to begin running outside their takeover zones, and shall start within the zone. It further says if an athlete does not follow this rule, their team shall be disqualified

The 4 x400 mixed relay team finished in position five with a Season Best time of 3; 32.75 and could not advance to the next round. The quartet is made up of Justice Oratile, Warona Thonisani, Keorapetse Oreokame and Ame Bogoma.

In 400 metres, Monngathipa finished position four with a time of 47.57 in heat one, while Kumevu managed to advance to the 400 metres semi-finals after finishing position one in heat six with a time of 45.69, but could not proceed to the finals as he finished sixth with a time of 47.54 in semi-final heat two. In the 200 metres women, Majama only managed to finish in position six, clocking a time of 24.31 in heat 5.

The team’s coach Nico Manyapedza said the athletes did their best though they were not bringing medals. He said most of the athletes last competed in May, and that alone meant they were rusty, although they tried to prepare them during the training camp.

The coach said in May, Monngathipa did not finish his race due to an injury, and had a long layoff nursing an injury. Furthermore, he said Kumevu was also injured before, adding that it was important to always track athletes and take care of them while nursing injuries.

Botswana Athletics Association (BAA) vice president Oabona Theetso said they sent a development team to give them exposure.

“Making it to the competition and finishing the race healthy is what make us happy as BAA,” he said.  Ends