23 Aug 2023

Tshepiso Masalela will tonight compete in the 800 metres semi-finals at the ongoing World Athletics Championships held in Budapest, Hungary.

He booked a spot as one of the fastest non-automatic qualifiers after finishing in position four in the heats with a time of 1:45.60 on Tuesday.

Tonight, he will line up against polish Mateusz Borkowski, Mohamed Attaoui of Spain, Ben Pattison of Great Britain, Joseph Deng of Australia, Benjamin Robert from France two Africans Slimane Moula and Abdelati El Guesse of Algeria and Morocco respectively.

National team coach Chilume Ntshwarang said they would go all out in the semi-final as their main aim was to make it to the final.

“He should run and go with the front pack.

He should avoid being boxed in because to come out of the box is other story. The idea is to increase the pace and see if we will get a Personal Best time and a final spot,” he said.  

Former Botswana Athletics Association secretary Patrick Moesi said the athlete ran a good race, though in the mix, adding that he had dug in a little bit more he would even have qualified automatically

“His race management has improved greatly this season and he is sure to develop into a world class athlete from this experience.

In the semi-finals, he needs to stay up there with the leading pack and finish strongly.

He may be in with a chance for the finals if he fights until the end,” he said.

Meanwhile it was a bad day in office as three 400m runners did not proceed to the finals.

Bayapo Ndori could not complete his race due to an injury while Leungo Scotch and Coleen Kebinatshipi both finished last in their different heats with 45.96 and 46.39 respectively.

Athletics coach Boxah Kootshabe said Scotch and Kebinatshipi were both slow in their first 200m.

“It looked like they gave up when they saw that they don’t have a chance of better position and times.

I hope they will recover and give us better performance in a relay,” he said

On the other hand, Moesi said it was not a good day for the 400m trio and that Scotch was in the strongest heat and his lane draw did not do him any favours.

He said running from that lane against fast athletes, he needed to have started very quickly but he did not seem to kick it off too well hence the result.

The coach said Kebinatshipi, a junior, did well to have made it to the semi-finals, adding that he too was affected by the lane draws.

Moesi said while known for his fast take offs, he did not start off too well and was already trailing in the back straight.

“It’s a learning curve for the youngster and he will grow from strength as a result.

Our athletes need to be aware of the new rules for lane draws and should strive to qualify automatically for better lanes,” he said. ENDS