Leemisa Thuseho
A CHRONIC hamstring injury has forced sprinter, Nelson Khereng, to give up on his dream of becoming one of Lesotho’s and Africa’s top athletes.
Khereng sustained the injury in 2018 during the Confederation of University and Colleges Sports Associations (CUCSA) Games in Botswana. Since then, the injury has deterred him from competing.
Khereng told the Lesotho Times this week that he had now decided to retire.
“I sustained the injury during the CUCSA games in Botswana after pulling a muscle,” Khereng said.
“I went for a scan still in Botswana and was told how serious the injury was. Unfortunately, that became the last race of my career.”
Khereng attended the CUCSA Games under the auspices of the Lesotho University and College Sports Association (LUCSA) but struggled to get money for therapy. LUCSA only paid for two therapy sessions.
“After sustaining the injury, LUCSA only paid for two sessions of my therapy. Thereafter, I had to stop the sessions because I couldn’t afford paying from my own pocket as my parents were also facing financial challenges at the time.
“I tried home remedies but that was in vain. Every time I tried running the pain would return, therefore I decided to retire.”
Two months ago, he got an offer from a volunteer therapist but even then, he is not interested in returning to the track.
“Even if I get help, I don’t think I will still have courage to pursue a career in athletics because mentally, the whole episode has already cost me a lot. It was never easy to make the decision to retire. Athletics was my life.
“Seeing my career ending just like that gave me depression and I had to go for counselling. I am just 24 now and my dream was to be an Olympic medalist and retire with a gold medal from the African Championships but all that dream has been shattered.”
Now that he will no longer be competing on the track, Khereng is looking forward to starting a career as a sports administrator to contribute to the growth of local sports.
Apart from the CUCSA Games, Khereng also represented Lesotho at the African Youth Games in 2014. That same year, he was part of the national team which competed in the African Union Sports Council Region (AUSC) Region 5 Games in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe.
In 2017, he competed in the World University Games in Taipei, Taiwan.
