University of Namibia Athletics Club sprinter, Mahmad Bock, said he dreams of representing Namibia at a big international competition.
In an interview with Nampa after winning the 400 metres (m) sprint at the third leg of the Athletics Namibia Grand Prix held at the Independence Stadium on Saturday, Bock said he is hard at work in improving himself as an athlete.
“My target is to grind hard so that I can reach that qualifying time for the Commonwealth Games, which I am positive of achieving if I keep working hard,” said Bock, who also competes in the 100m and 200m sprints.
Bock holds a personal best of 46.24 seconds in the 400m and ran a time of 48.07 seconds on Saturday. If he is to realise his dream of competing in the upcoming Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England, he will have to clock 45.50 seconds in the 400m sprint.
The sprinter said his race on Saturday was a little bit tricky due to the wind but he hopes to improve his times ahead of the Athletics Namibia Championships that will be held in April.
“I am positive of putting up a good performance at the nationals as long as I keep my mind and soul to the job,” Bock said.
Bock, who has thus far dominated the 400m and 200m sprints at the AN Grand Prix, had stiff competition at the third Grand Prix from Andre Retief who competes for the Quinton Steele-Botes Athletics Club. Retief ran a time of 48.10 seconds, just three split seconds shy of the winning time.
The 1500m event saw Omaruru-based long-distance runner David Dam putting up an impressive performance after beating Simon Paulus from Namibian Correctional Service with a time of four minutes, 01 second and 13 split seconds (4:01:13).
Kakadhinwa Athletics Club long-distance runner, 17-year-old Sara Shikongo once again dominated the 1500m women’s run with a time of 4:40:52, which was six seconds ahead of veteran runner Alina Armas from Namibian Defence Force, who ran a time of 4:46.15 seconds.
The 100m sprint saw Ernst Narib of Golden Cheetah Athletics Club dominating the field with a sprint of 10.60 seconds, but he was closely followed by his teammate Anthony Vries and Namib Lions Athletics Club’s Elvis Gaseb who shared second place with a time of 10.62 seconds.
Source: The Namibian Press Agency
