Leemisa Thuseho
TOKA Badboy’s dream of making his debut at the Confederation of African Athletics (CAA) African Senior Track and Field Championships in Mauritius has gone up in flames after suffering ankle and knee injuries.
The biennial event started yesterday and ends on Sunday. This is the first edition since the Asaba, Nigeria 2018 edition. The championships had been deterred by the Covid-19 pandemic since then.
Despite qualifying for the games last year and being named in the team last week, Badboy failed to travel with the team on Monday after suffering knee and ankle injuries.
Federation of Athletics Lesotho (FAL) secretary general, Makara Thibinyane, confirmed to the Lesotho Times this week that Badboy was not part of team that travelled to Mauritius.
“Our team left today (Monday) to Mauritius for the African Championships,” Thibinyane said.
“Only three athletes travelled as Badboy couldn’t travel after he suffered knee and ankle injuries. It is not yet clear what happened, but he will need to see a specialist before the end of the week so that we can ascertain what the problems are,” he said.
After the postponement of the 2020 edition to 2021, Badboy qualified for the championships. However, that edition was also postponed. He had earned his qualification during the Botswana National Championships early last year clocking 28:37.24 in the 10km race.
The three athletes representing Lesotho include Lerato Sechele, who is the 2018 African Athletics Championships triple jump bronze medalist.
Sechele is part of the KovsieSport Jumping Academy at the University of the Free State (UFS). She is currently the national triple jump record holder with 13, 57m which she recorded during the Gold Coast, Australia Commonwealth Games in 2018. She finished fourth in Australia.
Her recent results this year include the 12, 17m jump which she recorded at the Athletics South Africa (ASA) Grand Prix 4, in Johannesburg in April finishing third. She also went on to jump 12, 55m in the eSwatini Championships in Manzini last month.
Again, last month, she came first in the Botswana Athletics National Championship jumping 12, 53m.
Sprinter, Mojela Koneshe (100m and 200m), is also in the team making his debut in the championships. This will be Mojela’s first senior event and his second major event after the IAAF World U18 Championships in Nairobi, Kenya, in 2017.
Also in the team is marathoner, Tebello Ramakongoana, who will compete in the 5km and 10km races. He is also making his first appearance at this stage.
On his return from Mauritius, Ramakongoana will be faced with another huge task of representing Lesotho at the World Athletics Championships in Oregon, in the United States from 15 to 24 July 2022.
