Mikia Kalati
THE experienced athletics trio of Mosito Lehata, Tšepang Sello and Lerato Sechele has qualified for the 2019 All Africa Games scheduled for August 2019 in Morocco.
The trio qualified after impressive performances at the Botswana International Meeting on Saturday.
Sechele, who has been enjoying a good form in the new athletics season, won the Long Jump category with a leap of 5, 86m while Sello clocked 4:30:10 to win the 1500m with Mokulubete Makatise coming second recording …
Badboy Toka also qualified for the All Africa Games winning the 5000m race clocking 14:01:86 while his countrymen Jobo Khatooane and Mthimkulu Hatasi came third and fourth respectively.
Star sprinter-Lehata, who is still making his way to full fitness after a long spell on the sidelines with and injury, came second in the 100m clocking 10:41s.
Mamakoli Senauoane, a newcomer at the big stage in the senior category, also came second in the 400m final clocking 56:70s. The young runner recently represented the country at the African under-18 Championship in Abidjan, Ivory Coast.
The Lesotho Amateur Athletics Association public relations officer Sejanamane Maphathe, told the Lesotho Times that they are happy with the progress being made by their athletes having secured qualification for the continental games.
However, he said there is still a long way to go as the times clocked in Botswana were not good enough to qualify for the World Championships.
“Yes, some of the athletes did very well and secured qualification for the All Africa Games, though it was not good enough to meet qualifying standards for the World Championship penned in for September 2019,” Maphathe said.
“We are yet to meet the qualifying standards for the World Championships but Lehata, Sello, Sechele and Toka have qualified for the All Africa Games.”
Maphathe hailed the International meeting in Botswana as a good test for the local athletes as they competed with the best on the continent and is confident that they will soon reach the qualifying standards for the World Championships in Doha.
“It was a good test for our athletes who responded positively to the challenge competing in a good competition.
“I’m positive that many of them will qualify for the World Championships. We need to ensure that they remain in good shape and competing in big events to help them qualify for the Doha championships,” he said.
Lehata and Sechele remained in Botswana and will compete in the national championships scheduled for this weekend.
“I think Lehata’s performance is a good sign that he is slowly making his way to full fitness because he clocked 10:31 in his first competition in Bloemfontein in February and now he slightly receded and recorded 10:41.
“It’s never easy to be consistent after coming back from a long injury but surely, he will get it right soon. Maybe at the weekend he will perform much better than he did last week.
“As for Sechele, she is in good shape because she has won every competition in the new-year. Maybe if she gets better competition it will push her to improve and do better but we are happy with her progress.
“We are happy with how all the athletes responded and we are looking forward to seeing them in more competitions so that they can continue improve,” he said.
