Formidable SA team for Beijing Champs

Formidable SA team for Beijing Champs

In the wake of several stellar performances around the world by South African athletes in recent times, Athletics South Africa (ASA) were able to announce a formidable 31-member team for the IAAF World Championships in Beijing, China, starting on August 22.

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Great things will be expected from the sprinting contingent which produced a string of performances that count among the best to date for 2015.

 

The most impressive has been Wayde van Niekerk who has a clocked the third fastest 400m time this year. His time of 43.96 at the start of July in France is bettered only by Isaac Makwala (Botswana) and Kirani James (Grenada) who clocked times of 43.72 and 43.95 respectively.

 

The team for Beijing shows two additions to the 29-member provisional squad that ASA announced last month. Caster Semenya (800m) and Victor Hogan (discus) recently recorded performances that earned them a late call-up after ASA offered athletes a period of grace to prove themselves.

 

South Africa will be best represented in the men’s marathon where Benedict Moeng, Desmond Mokgobu, Lucas Jani and Sibusiso Nzima will all be on the starting line.

 

The championships run until Sunday, August 30, at the famous Bird’s Nest Stadium, with its 50,000 capacity.

 

The IAAF (International Association of Athletics Federations) recently announced that all the evening sessions have been fully booked.

 

The SA team:

Men, 100m: Akani Simbine, Henricho Bruintjies, Anaso Jobodwana

200m: Anaso Jobodwana,Akani Simbine

400m: Wayde van Niekerk, Berend Koekemoer

800m: Reinhardt van Rensburg

1 500m: Johan Cronje

10 000m: Stephen Mokoka

110m Hurdles: Antonio Alkana

400m Hurdles: LJ van Zyl, Cornel Fredericks

Long jump: Zarck Visser, Khotso Mokoena, Ruswahl Samaai

Triple jump: Khotso Mokoena

Shot Put: Orazio Cremona,Jaco Engelbrecht

Javelin: Rocco van Rooyen

Decathlon: Willem Coertzen

20km Race Walk:Lebogang Shange

50km Race Walk: Marc Mundell

Marathon: Benedict Moeng, Desmond Mokgobu, Lucas Jani, Sibusiso Nzima

Women, 100m: Carina Horn

200m: Justine Palframan

400m: Justine Palframan

400m Hurdles: Wenda Nel

Javelin: Sunette Viljoen

Marathon: Tanith Maxwell -- Herman Gibbs

 

ANA

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