South Africa
Team South Africa were off to the perfect start on day three of the 21st African Athletics Championships in Asaba, Nigeria on Friday with Caster Semenya winning gold in the 400m event.
Semenya stopped the clock in a national record of 49.96. The record, previously held by Heide Seyerling, had stood for 18 years.
Semenya now holds national records in the 400m, 800m, 1 000m and 1 500m events.
She was followed home by Christine Botslegwe of Botswana in second while Nigeria’s Yinka Ajayi took third.
The men’s relay team of Akani Simbine , Henricho Bruintjies , Simon Magakwe and Emile Erasmus added the second gold of the night when they won the 4x100m relay event in 38.25 beating Nigeria and Ivory Coast into second and third respectively.
Thapelo Phora added to South Africa’s medal tally by taking silver in the men’s 400m race with Cornel Fredericks claiming silver in the men’s 400m hurdles.
Linique Prinsloo Beneke then claimed bronze in the women’s long jump with a leap of 6.38 metres.
Semenya again showed her class by smashing the South African record in the 400m final, storming across the line in 49.96sec to become the first SA woman to dip under 50 seconds in the one-lap dash.
She broke the previous mark held by Heide Seyerling, which had stood for nearly 18 years.
‘It’s always been my dream to run under 50, and I think it was the right time. The conditions suited me,’ said Semenya, who was nearly a full second ahead of her nearest opponent. ‘For me, it’s always about having fun and waiting for the right time to execute.’
Semenya is set to compete again in the 800m and 4x400m relay events on Saturday and Sunday.
The national squad relay took no prisoners in the 4x100m relay, charging home in 38.25sec, with Commonwealth 100m champion Akani Simbine, Simon Magakwe, Emile Erasmus and Commonwealth silver medallist Henricho Bruintjies missing the SA record by just 0.01.
‘The more we believe in each other, the better we become,’ Bruintjies said. ‘This is an individual sport but by coming together as a team there are more medals up for grabs, and I think we’re all understanding that now and showing up for the relays.’
Delivering a medal double, high jumper Chris Moleya bagged silver after clearing 2.26m to equal his personal best, and Mpho Links also stepped on the podium, with his best attempt of 2.15m earning him the bronze.
In other disciplines, Thapelo Phora set a personal best of 45.14sec to grab the silver medal in the men’s 400m final and Fredriech Pretorius finished second in the decathlon with 7,733 points.
‘I had a slow start so I had to push hard to catch up, but my aim was to make the top two to be in the team for the IAAF Continental Cup, so I’m very happy,’ Phora said.
Cornel Fredericks also took silver in the 400m hurdles final, capping a superb comeback from injury troubles after a lengthy absence from the national team.
‘Today was satisfying because it’s the first time I’ve represented South Africa since 2016 and it’s always an honour to run for the national team,’ Fredericks said. ‘The time wasn’t as fast as I expected but I’m happy with second place.’
Ischke Senekal earned bronze in the women’s discus with a best heave of 53.82m, with compatriots Riette Heyns (52.41m) and Yolandi Stander (48.35) ending fourth and sixth, respectively.
Long jump star Lynique Beneke also took bronze in her specialist discipline with a 6.38m leap, while Zinzi Chabangu took fourth position (6.14m).
The SA women’s 4x100m relay team narrowly missed out on a medal, finishing fourth in 49.63sec, just 0.05 seconds outside a podium place. Siboniso Soldaka struggled in humid conditions in the 3,000m steeplechase, settling for 11th place in 9min 0.87sec.
As at Saturday, South Africa have a total of 17 medals in the bag: five gold, seven silver and five bronze.
Nigeria
Nigeria, the host country for the 21st African Senior Athletics Championship, is coming next to South Africa’s three gold haul on the medals table.
Raking in medals for the country at the second day of the ASAC event were Tobiloba Amusan and Enekwechi Chukwebuka winning two gold medals for the country in Asaba.
Amusan who is the reigning Commonwealth Games Champion had given her words on the eve of the commencement of CAA Asaba 2018 that Team Nigeria will be putting her best foot forward and she did not disappoint; winning the 100m hurdles with a time of 12.86secs.
There was more to cheer for Nigeria in the Men’s Shot Put event where Enekwechi Chukwuebuka won gold in what was his first African Championships appearance.
Enekwechi threw a distance of 21.08m to pick gold ahead of the duo of Mohamed Khalifa from Egypt and Kyle Blignaut of South Africa.
While many were taken aback with the pulling out of Blessing Okagbare from the 100m event, Nigeria nonetheless made it to the podium with Joy Udo-Gabriel proving she is on top of her game; winning another bronze medal.
Temilola Ogunrinde also added to Nigeria’s medal tally on Day 2 as she won Silver in the Hammer Throw with a new National Record of 67.39m
With the high-quality performance being churned out by Africa’s best legs in Asaba, it was not surprising that the IAAF President, Sebastian Coe expressed delight at being in Delta State for the African Championships.
Meanwhile facts have emerged why Nigerian sprinter, Blessing Okagbare-Ighoteguonor pulled out of both the 100m and 200m at the ongoing 21st African Senior Athletics Championship, Asaba 2018.
Okagbare is the most experienced athlete in Team Nigeria, and many were looking up to her to lead the country’s medals challenge against South Africa, Cote d’Ivoire, Kenya and others on home soil.
Her decision to pull out of the sprint events on Wednesday did not go down well with some keen followers of athletics, who felt that the Sapele-born Okagbare may have chickened out to avoid being disgraced by some up-coming athletes.
Some are of the opinion that Okagbare’s decision to pull out at the dying minute was her ‘usual’ way of rubbishing the image of the country at major competitions.
“This was the same Okagbare who ran at the money spinning IAAF Diamond League recently.
“Her doctor actually advised her to shut down for the whole season, but since we are hosting this event here in Asaba, Okagbare decided to be part of it.
IAAF: Coe to get support African meets
At a press conference held on Thursday, the IAAF boss said he will be working towards getting more support for African countries even when they are organizing their regional meets.
The IAAF President said: “I am not just here just for the ceremony; I brought a big team with me from our headquarters to understand the challenges countries face in delivering athletics events like this even at the regional level.
“My team are also here to address and observe to see how they can be more helpful in delivering more opportunities.”
On his part, the LOC Chairman for CAA Asaba 2018, Solomon Ogba, apologized for all the shortcomings and also addressed the reports about athletics sleeping at the Lagos airport before making it to Asaba.
Ogba explained that most of the affected athletes arrived at the Lagos airport by the time Asaba airport has closed.
He stated that the athletes were checked into good hotels that same day for two days before planes were made available to fly them to Asaba.
He said, “They told us that some athletes were at the airport and cannot go to Asaba. The foreign athletes put the organizers under pressure but that is not what we are saying right now, because we have passed this stage”.
“The Nigerian media did not help matters and did not ask questions from the right source. If the team had given us their arrival schedules, we would have known were they would be arriving. This is Africa, people who cannot provide for you when they come, they’ll want to attack because they see Nigeria as a big brother”, he added.
The LOC boss, however, apologized to the journalists covering the championships for the hiccups observed at the start of the event.
He also debunked rumours that Tanzania pulled out of Asaba 2018 as he revealed that they never expressed intention to be part of the African championships in the first place; having been absent at the Delegates Registration Meeting.
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