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Sechele eyes world champs

by Lesotho Times
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Mikia Kalati

LESOTHO’S triple jump star, Lerato Sechele, has set her eyes on qualifying for the 2019 IAAF World Championships scheduled for DOHA after an impressive start to the new-year.

Sechele started her new-year by winning the Western Province Athletics Multi and Open Meeting in Cape Town on 16 February and followed it up with another impressive performance winning the Free State Championship with a jump of 13.11 metres.

Sechele told the Lesotho Times after her return from the Free State competition that her biggest goal for 2019 is to secure a spot for the DOHA games in September as well as the All Africa Games set for Rabat, in Morocco later this year.

“These were my first two competitions this year,” Sechele said.

“The first was in Cape Town and the second in Bloemfontein last weekend.

“The big games for this year, is the All Africa games which I’m preparing for a while for the World Championship, I can only get there by qualification.

“So, I have to work hard to qualify for them but for the All Africa Games it’s more about getting a medal because I do not want to come back home empty handed.”

The triple jumper said she is looking at improving on her bronze medal from last year’s African Senior Championships that were held in Nigeria.

The 25-year-old admitted that coming back home to reunite with her Cuban coach Reynold Salas in 2018 after a frustrating spell at a training camp in Senegal also helped get her groove back.

“I think being home counts but it is also the training that I’m getting. The training that I have been getting here is different from what I got in Senegal. That’s the one thing I complained about in terms of the training that I got in Senegal because it did not help me.

“I went there to Senegal as the African junior champion but when I got there my performance dropped badly. However, within six months of returning home, my performance improved again.

“I won bronze at the African Senior Championship in Nigeria. Working with Ntate Salas gets the best out of me,” she said.

Sechele’s fellow 2020 Olympic scholarship colleagues were also in action last weekend but had mixed fortunes competing in different competitions on the continent.

Tšepang Sello continued with her impressive form in 2018 taking first position in the 1500m of the Free State Championships.

Tumelo Makai also had a good weekend as he was the joint winner along with his partner Phetetso Monese at the inaugural International Cross-border Mountain biker race.

Long distance runner ‘Neheng Khatala came eighth a half-marathon in Morocco while Marumo Moloisane had a tournament to forget after he was knocked-out in the first round at the Egypt Open Taekwondo Championships.

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