Ts’epang Sello at a victory parade after winning the 800m race in Potcherstroom last weekend
Mikia Kalati
THE LESOTHO Amateur Athletics Association (LAAA) is banking on the promising duo of Nomakoe Nkhasi and Tšepang Sello to seal qualification for the August World Championships set for London, England.
The two were in top form in South Africa last weekend, where Nkhasi won the Century City 10km and Sello won the 800m Varsity Athletics Meeting.
Since their ill-fated participation at the 2016 Olympic Games in Brazil, the duo have been in good form with Sello bagging gold and silver at last December’s Region 5 under-20 games in Angola while Nkhasi has continued to dominate South African 10km races including the Soweto Marathon.
LAA PRO Sejanamane Maphathe said they were “very excited by the duo’s progress and they are very good prospects for the future”.
“Despite winning their races this past weekend, they fell short on qualification for the World Championship by a small margin, but I’m confident they will do so as they will be taking part in a number of competitions,” he said.
He said Sello would continue participating in Varsity meetings in South Africa where she is studying in her quest to secure a ticket to participate in her second major global competition after the Olympics.
He also said the LAAA would also sponsor the participation of other athletes in different competitions in South Africa so they could have a bigger pool of athletes for the London games.
“Our athletes have had to start from the scratch in terms of meeting the qualification standards after their participation at the Olympics last year so we are taking a number of them to competitions across the border,” said the LAAA publicist.
“We are also weighing options for star sprinter Mosito Lehata and he could also come down to South Africa to try and book his place for London as well.
“But all in all we are very happy with our athletes and we believe it is going to be a good year for us in various competitions,” he said.
Apart from the World Championships, Maphathe said they were also preparing athletes for the World Athletics Youth Championship in Kenya in June.
“So it is going to be a long year for our athletes in different categories and it is important is to have a balanced team of young and experienced runners that will represent the country well in major competitions,” he said.
