Namibians fair poorly at African Athletics Champs

NAMIBIAN medal hopeful Agnes Samaria ended sixth in the 800-metres race during the 15th African Athletics Championships that ended yesterday in Mauritius.

Samaria started slowly and trailed for most of the race that was eventually won by Kenya’s Janeth Busienei in a time of two minutes and 64 seconds. The Namibian struggled to get in front, and could only overtake two runners as the rest picked up speed nearer the end.Samaria clocked 2:07.65.Also in the race, former Olympic and world champion Maria Mutola had to settle for second place after Busienei won the last 100-metre sprint to the finish line.Mutola clocked 2:01.08.In the 20-kilometre walk for men yesterday, Namibia’s Mathew Hoeb ended 14th out of 16 walkers.He recorded a time of two hours, 11 minutes and 33 seconds.The winner and gold medallist, Dawid Rotich from Kenya, finished in a time of 1:23:58 seconds.The other Namibians who also could not make the grade at the African Championships were sprinter Benedictus Botha, who fell out in heat four of the 100m race with a time of 11.35 seconds.Nigeria’s Fasuba Olusoji won the gold medal with his time of 10.37 seconds.Long jumper Stefan Louw could only manage 7.37 metres.He ended 12th out of 16 jumpers.The best jumper and gold medallist was Ignatius Gaisah from Ghana with a distance of 8.51 metres.Triple jumper Rodger Haitengi’s jump of 15.76 metres landed him in eighth position.The best jump of 17.25 metres came from Mauritius’ Tariku Bouguetaib.The results of Namibia’s top high jumper Salomo Tuiare were not available yesterday.Over 450 of Africa’s finest athletes from 49 countries were taking part in the championships.Athletes were not only vying for medals, but also for a place on the Africa team for the World Cup in Athletics to be contested in Athens, Greece, from September 16 and 17 this year.Gold medallists automatically qualify for the 2007 World Athletics Championships in Osaka, Japan.Prior to their departure, there was confusion regarding the Namibian team to the championships.The athletes did not leave as one team, but some had to go late because of financial constrains within Athletics Namibia.NampaThe Namibian struggled to get in front, and could only overtake two runners as the rest picked up speed nearer the end.Samaria clocked 2:07.65.Also in the race, former Olympic and world champion Maria Mutola had to settle for second place after Busienei won the last 100-metre sprint to the finish line.Mutola clocked 2:01.08.In the 20-kilometre walk for men yesterday, Namibia’s Mathew Hoeb ended 14th out of 16 walkers.He recorded a time of two hours, 11 minutes and 33 seconds.The winner and gold medallist, Dawid Rotich from Kenya, finished in a time of 1:23:58 seconds.The other Namibians who also could not make the grade at the African Championships were sprinter Benedictus Botha, who fell out in heat four of the 100m race with a time of 11.35 seconds.Nigeria’s Fasuba Olusoji won the gold medal with his time of 10.37 seconds.Long jumper Stefan Louw could only manage 7.37 metres.He ended 12th out of 16 jumpers.The best jumper and gold medallist was Ignatius Gaisah from Ghana with a distance of 8.51 metres.Triple jumper Rodger Haitengi’s jump of 15.76 metres landed him in eighth position.The best jump of 17.25 metres came from Mauritius’ Tariku Bouguetaib.The results of Namibia’s top high jumper Salomo Tuiare were not available yesterday.Over 450 of Africa’s finest athletes from 49 countries were taking part in the championships.Athletes were not only vying for medals, but also for a place on the Africa team for the World Cup in Athletics to be contested in Athens, Greece, from September 16 and 17 this year.Gold medallists automatically qualify for the 2007 World Athletics Championships in Osaka, Japan.Prior to their departure, there was confusion regarding the Namibian team to the championships.The athletes did not leave as one team, but some had to go late because of financial constrains within Athletics Namibia.Nampa