Namibia’s 1 500 metres (m) national champion, David Dam will jet off to South Africa on Tuesday to compete at the Athletics South Africa (ASA) Grand Prix as well as the Gauteng Masters.
Dam who hails from one of Namibia’s disadvantaged communities won gold in 1 500m and a silver medal in 800m at the Athletics Namibia Senior Championships held at Independence Stadium over the weekend.
In an interview with Nampa on Sunday, his coach Berthold Karumendu said they will be travelling to Potchefstroom, South Africa to compete in the ASA Grand Prix 3 Continental Tour on 06 April and the ASA Grand Prix 4 Continental Tour on 09 April 2022 at the Germiston Stadium in Johannesburg.
“At the moment our target is to compete at the African Athletics Championships and for that to happen Dam needs to run a minute and 47 seconds in the 800m while in the 1 500m he has to do three minutes, 45 seconds,” he said.
Karumendu added that Dam also made the long list of athletes who stand a chance to represent Namibia at the Commonwealth Games.
“The South African competitions will be his first international competition and this is an opportunity of a lifetime as he will be exposed to a bigger competition which he needs in his career,” Karumendu said.
The 23-year-old athlete who hails from the San community of Omaruru in the Erongo Region currently has a personal best of three minutes, 56 seconds and 61 tenths of a second (3:56:61) in 1 500m and his 800m time stands at 1:53:13.
“Our goal of competing in South Africa is to help improve Dam’s current times in the 800m as well as 1 500m as competition is much tougher if he wants to compete with the best on the continent,” he said.
He also said that apart from the ASA Grand Prix, Dam will also compete at the Central Gauteng Masters Athletics Champs that will be held at the Germiston Stadium on 16 April 2022.
“I am over the moon that we got assistance from Namdia Foundation to travel to South Africa for these competitions,” said Karumendu who stated that they have set themselves a target of qualifying for the African Championships that will be held in Mauritius from 08 to 12 June 2022.
He also said they plan to compete at the Gaborone International if funds will allow them to travel to Botswana.
Source: The Namibian Press Agency
