African Games: Kenya grab first gold
Kenya’s Emily Ngii was over the moon as she ensured the first gold medal for Kenya in the women’s 20km walk race outside the University of Ghana Stadium at the on going African Games in Accra yesterday.
Samuel Gathimba settled for silver in the men’s category and said the focus immediately turns on Olympics, having already qualified.
Ngii clocked 1:37:34 to win the women’s race ahead of Ethiopia’s Sintayehu Teshager who took silver in 1:38:07. Souad Azzi clocked 1:45:42 to complete the podium with Kenya’s Silvia Kemboi taking fourth in 1:41:20. She said she will not rest until she qualifies for Paris.
She said the next stop would be the World Relay Walk race in Turkey on April 21, where she will be chasing the Olympic qualifying time.
“I am just a minute outside the qualifying time. My current time is 1:30hrs and I require 1:29hrs to qualify for the Olympic Games,” she revealed.
Ngii said the kind of training she went through at her Ngong Camp also went a long way in ensuring she emerged victorious. “ I could cope with the pace because weather conditions were the same as Ngong.”
She added: “I could go for a morning run and return at mid-day when the sun was hot for the main training and this has really worked for me,” she quipped.
She added: ” I wouldn’t say the weather here affected me much because after it rained yesterday the conditions today were favourable for me. I have not done any speed work here and the longest training I have is 20 minutes and this has worked for me.”
Ngii said she used mind games to beat the Ethiopians. “They didn’t know what I was planning and sometimes I could retreat in the race just to make them comfortable and re-appear time and gain to announce my presence.
“This seemed to disorganise them a lot and in the process, I took advantage of the situation to attack once and for all.”
She said the next step is to work on her speed because she already has the endurance.
Gathimba clocked 1:28:06 to finish second behind Ethiopia’s Misgana Wakuma (1:28:05). Algeria’s Ismail Benhammouda (1:31:12) took bronze with Digit settling for the fourth position in 1:34:51. Ethiopia’s Melese Ayana completed the top five in 1:35:15.
Gathimba cried foul over the ‘dirty tactics’ applied by his Ethiopian rival. He said he would retained his title if the Ethiopian had not applied unsportsmanlike tactics. “Wakuma was literally running and that is cheating.
He, however, said despite that, he is happy to have won his silver square and fairly. “ I am proud because I stuck to the rulebook and won silver.
He said the problem with cheating is that you can never do it in more than two meetings unnoticed. He described the course as a killer.
