SA’s hopes for medals seem slim

Category: Sport

Date Added: 12 March 2010

WESLEY BOTTON

Johannesburg

DESPITE two athletes breaking multiple national records this season, and the fact that they will be led by the men’s long jump defending champion, the five-member South African team will do well to get on the medal table at the World Indoor Athletics Championships in Doha in Qatar this weekend.

Khotso Mokoena has picked up medals at global championships for three successive years and was very consistent last year, but a leg injury has hampered his build-up to the event.

The Olympic silver medallist has not jumped indoors this season, and has only two outdoor meetings behind him — an 8,22m wind-aided win in Durban a fortnight ago and a 7,93m win in Potchefstroom last week.

Though he expressed the belief earlier this week that he can compete for a medal, he is up against it at the three day global indoor championships which start today. Four of the 28 athletes on the start list have leaped further than Mokoena’s 8,18m national indoor record this season, and Mokoena will have to be near his best form to beat the likes of Panama’s Irving Saladino.

Nonetheless, Mokoena remains SA’s best chance for a medal — although Juan van Deventer will line up in the men’s 1500m with an outside hope of stepping on the podium.

Van Deventer has had a tremendous debut season. He set a South African record in the 1500m (three minutes and 37,25 seconds) in Dusseldorf last month and four days later broke the national 3000m mark with a 7:49.91 effort in Moscow.

The Olympic finalist is ranked 10th in the world and will be confident of reaching the final in Doha against a field headlined by Kenyan Haron Keitany and Ethiopian Deresse Mekonnen.

Fellow distance runner Rene Kalmer has also been in fine form this season, setting national women’s records over 3000m and 5000m. But the versatile 29-year-old faces a stiff challenge over 3000m in Doha. Only Viktoriia Poiludina of Kyrgystan holds a personal best slower than Kalmer’s in the world-class 22-strong field led by Ethiopian world record holder Meseret Defar.

Janice Josephs has never been shy on confidence, but her outdoor best this season (8,32m) is better only than Sri Lanka’s Priyadharshani Nawanage in the women’s long jump field. With no indoor performances behind her this year, Josephs might struggle to make the final. Sapa

Source: Business Day