DUBAI – Namibia’s Lahja Ishitile (T11), Christoph Marungu (T12) and Roodly Gowaseb (T54) failed to progress to the next round of their respective events on the opening day of the World Para Athletics Championships.
The 2019 International Paralympic Committee (IPC) World Para Athletics Championships, which are taking place in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, started Thursday and end on 15 November.
Team Namibia is being represented by 13 athletes in track and field events.
On the opening day of the championships Marungu, who made his maiden appearance and has a seasonal as well as personal best of 54.16 seconds in the T12 400m, finished last in heat three with a time of 55.13 seconds.
That heat was won by Akbulut Oguz of Turkey who crossed the line in a time of 50.20 seconds.
In the T11 400m women’s category Ishitile, who started the race with a strong pace, failed to maintain her speed as she tired off at the 200m mark and crossed the line in last position with a time of one minute and three seconds (1:03.94).
Ishitile’s personal best in that event is 58.97 seconds, while this year she ran a seasonal best of 1:02.60.
Another Namibian who made his debut at these championships was wheelchair racer Gowaseb, who clocked a time of 19.32 seconds in the T54 100m heat. Ervantes Garcia Juan Pablo of Mexico won that heat in a time of 14.02 seconds, which was an area record for Mexico.
Gowaseb, who received his new racing chair just hours before the race, was in last position.
Speaking to Nampa after the race, he said receiving the chair hours before the race and having a number of technical difficulties should not be an excuse for finishing last in that heat.
“I got the new chair and we had a number of behind-the-scenes issues with setting it up as some of the equipment that came with the chair went missing from the place we left it but that should not be an excuse. I just have to work hard going forward and improve as an athlete,” he said.
Ishitile, meanwhile, told this agency she ran out of steam while in the race but it’s something she will have to improve on in the remaining races in the competition.
“I got tired really fast and I don’t know why, but I will have to work on this if I am to improve on my time at this competition,” she said. – Nampa-AFP
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