20 Jun 2024

Championships, kicks off in Douala, Cameroon today, Botswana athletes are buoyant and looking forward to put a winning streak in a bid to punch tickets to the 2024 Paris Olympics.

The closing date for track and field is June 30, therefore, some athletes  who are yet to qualify, wanted to use the championships to book a space in the Olympics.

In an interview, Kemorena Tisang, who will be running both 400m and 110m hurdles, said his ultimate goal was to qualify for the Olympics. 

The qualifying standard for the 400m hurdles is 48.70 but last month at the National Stadium, Tisang clocked a Personal Best time of 48.76. 

He said the recent PB was a motivation, and was confident that he would qualify. He said he had been preparing well and he was ready to conquer Africa. 

“We had been training and taking part in other competitions in South Africa to gauge our readiness,” he said. 

Another hurdler, Victor Ntweng, said he would only be focusing on the 400m hurdles. 

Like his training partner, he said the mission was to hit 48.70 or even better as that would take him to Paris. 

Ntweng also ran his PB time of 48.82 at the ACNW Track and Field League at McArthur Stadium in Potchefstroom. 

He said a medal for him would be a bonus, adding that judging by how his body was responding, Batswana should expect nothing but a qualification.

 “I had enough competition as I was at the National Championships, and I competed in two races in South Africa. The aim was to perfect my techniques, so I am good to go,” he said. 

Refilwe Murangi, who will be competing in the 100m, 200m, and 4x100m women’s relay, said they did not prepare well, and they reported for camp a day before the departure.

 “And for the relay team, we never trained baton exchange, as such, I don’t know what is going to happen. 

It is important for relay teams to rehearse and know who is going to run which leg,” she said. 

Sethunya Majama, who will be taking to track in the 100m, and 4x100m women’s relay, said she was ready for the competition, and looking at their preparations, she would record a good PB. Ends