HELALIA Johannes won a bronze medal in the Women’s Half Marathon at the All Africa Games on Thursday morning when she came third in one hour, 11 minutes and 12 seconds.
It was Johannes’ best time this season and only 13 seconds outside her national record of 1:10:59.It was a great performance by Johannes, who was suffering from flu and had to dig deep to win the bronze medal.She was lying fourth for most of the race but increased her pace with a kilometre to go and managed to pass a Kenyan athlete with only 500m remaining. Johannes stretched her lead to finish third, while the Kenyan finished fourth in 1:11:35.Mare Dibaba of Ethiopia came first in 1:10:47, while another Ethiopian, Mamitu Daska came second in 1:10:51.It was Namibia’s sixth medal so far at the All Africa Games. After the race Johannes said she was not sure if she could make it due to her flu.’I am very happy that I won a medal for my country. It means that I represented my country well and I’m happy that I am here. Now I am looking forward to next year’s Olympic Games because I already qualified when I came third at the World Military Games in Brazil,’ she said.In the men’s half marathon Reinhold Iita finished 13th overall in 1:09:17. The race was won by Lelisa Desisa of Ethiopia in 1:04:31.Iita said he was he had an injury to his shin which prevented him from doing well.On Wednesday evening, Globine Mayova and Tjipekapora Herunga both qualified for the Women’s 200m semifinals. Mayova won her heat in 24,31 seconds while Herunga came second in her heat in 24,66. In the men’s 400m hurdles final on Wednesday evening, Hardus Maritz came seventh overall in 52,29 seconds.Meanwhile, Martin Aloysius was on Wednesday confirmed as the bronze medal winner in the T11 200m final at the All Africa Games in Maputo.Aloysius finished in a photo finish with Lucky Egbon of Nigeria and was later awarded the bronze medal. The official times however were not supplied. His medal followed hot on the heels of another Namibian para-athlete Ananias Shikongo who won gold and bronze in the T12 200 and 400m events.He initially finished a split second behind Jose Armando of Angola in the 200m final, but Armando was later disqualified after being pulled by his guide with the result that Shikongo won the gold medal in a time of 23,63 seconds. Octavio dos Santos of Angola was second in 23,77 and Rotawo Olusegun of Nigeria third in 25,77.Shikongo also won the bronze medal in the T11 400m final in a time of 53,07 seconds. Octavio dos Santos of Angola won gold in 51,60, while Armande Jose of Angola won silver in 52,38 seconds.On Wednesday morning all three of Namibia’s sprinters qualified for the semifinals of the men’s 200m. Dantago Gurirab came second in Heat 1 in 21,71 seconds, Hitjiverue Kaanjuka came fifth in heat 2 in 21,31 and Jesse Urikhob came second in Heat 3 in 21,81 seconds. In tennis, Namibia won both their doubles matches on Wednesday.Johan de Witt and Tuki Jacobs beat Sudan 4-5, 4-2, 10-4, while Carita Moolman and Riekie Honiball beat Botswana 6-1, 6-1.
