MASERU — Two long-distance runners are facing punishment for “purposely humiliating the country” at the Commonwealth Games in New Dehli last month.
Both Sechaba Bohosi and Tiisetso Ramokheseng failed to finish the men’s marathon, with the two allegedly citing sickness.
However, the Lesotho Athletics Amateur Association (LAAA) suspects the two runners had deliberately faltered in the race.
The LAAA held its annual general conference in Maseru on Saturday and delegates recommended that action be taken against the athletes.
LAAA spokesperson Sejanamane Maphathe said the association’s executive committee had been mandated to come up with a suitable punishment for the athletes.
“The two controversial athletes, Sechaba Bohosi and Tiisetso Ramokheseng, will be severely punished by the executive committee during our meeting this month-end,” Maphathe told the Lesotho Times this week.
“The two will be punished because, according to our analysis, they were just giving us excuses because they were never sick in the first place.
“They claim that they could not finish the race because they were sick yet they never saw our team doctor.
“There is nowhere in the team doctor’s report indicating the two failed to finish the race because they were sick.”
Maphathe said the LAAA was within its rights to punish the athletes because the association’s rules and regulations allowed them to do so.
“Our rules and regulations allow us to punish them and we will be meeting at the end of this month to discuss suitable punishment for their actions in India,” he said.
“(AGM delegates) were very bitter with the two athletes’ poor performance because they had potential to win and were chosen based on their past results.”
Maphathe said the LAAA suspected the athletes deliberately underperformed at the behest of their personal sponsors.
