Naigambo, Maritz for World Champs

Namibia will have two athletes at the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) World Championships in Beijing, China, from August 22 to 30. They are long-distance runner Beata Naigambo and 400-metre hurdles athlete Hardus Maritz. Naigambo was the only athlete to qualify for the event; Maritz was entered as a wildcard, said Athletics Namibia Secretary-General Frank Slabbert. “The IAAF always allows associations to throw in a wildcard (athlete) and because we had a woman who qualified, we threw in a male wildcard,” he told Nampa yesterday. Slabbert added that it will be a challenge for them, as for any athlete, to bring home medals. “These guys are going to face the world’s best. But you never know, anything is possible in sports, so we will wait and see what will happen,” he said. Asked about the five Namibian athletes who were sent to Jamaica to train, Slabbert said those athletes are in Swaziland participating in the police games there. The five top Namibian athletes have been in Jamaica since 2013 as part of a long-term training programme with the aim of improving Namibia’s chances of winning medals at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games. They are training with Jamaican star athletes while studying sports management and journalism at the University of Technology in Jamaica. The athletes are Hitjivirue Kaanjuka (100m and 200m sprints), Globine Mayova (100m, 200m), Lelanie Klaasman (400m hurdles), Tjipekapora Herunga (400m), and Dantago Gurirab (200m). Slabbert noted that the female athletes set a new national record in the 4x400m relay with a time of 3:41.47 at the recent IAAF Relay Games in the Bahamas. He also said Klaasman broke her own record twice this year. This will be Naigambo’s third participation at the world championship, having represented Namibia at the 2009 and 2013 editions. The tally of two athletes matches Namibia’s lowest number of representatives at the World Championships in recent edition. Only two athletes represented the country at the 2011 edition with 400m specialist Herunga joined by Daniel Nghipandulwa, who competed in the 800m at the event held in Daegu, South Korea. At the last world champs, which took place in Moscow, Russia, in 2013, Namibia had a contingent of six athletes with Naigambo, Alina Armas, Leena Ekandjo and Helalia Johannes making up a quartet of marathon runners. Herunga completed the female line-up while Kaanjuka was the only male representative. -NAMPA, additional reporting by own reporter WINDHOEK-HESRON KAPANGA