Day one of the 22nd edition of the Confederation of African Athletics (CAA) African Senior Championships saw Namibian athletes giving it their all against the continent’s best on Wednesday.

About 48 African countries out of the 55 are competing for silverware at the Côte d’Or National Sports Complex in Mauritius from 08 to 12 June 2022.

The opening day of the championships saw Namibia’s 100 metre (m) male sprinter Gilbert Hainuca qualify for the semi-finals after winning heat six of the first round with an impressive run of 10.23 seconds, which he improved later on when he ran a personal best of 10.15 seconds to reach the final.

Meanwhile, his teammate Ernst Narib found the going tough during heat three of the first-round finishing third with a time of 10.70 seconds and not progressing to the semi-final.

In the women’s 100m, Sade de Sousa qualified for the semi-finals with a time of 12.52 seconds, but her time of 12.59 seconds in the semi-finals was not good enough to take her to the final.

In the women’s shot-put final, Tuane Silver finished sixth with a throw of 13.78m in an event that was won by South African Ischke Senekal, who threw a personal best of 16.40m.

The 400m women’s category saw Mudi-Inosensia Haingura and Nandi Vass failing to progress to the next round of the championships after clocking 1:01.34 and 58.73 seconds respectively in their heats.

In the men’s 400m category Ivan Danny Geldenhuys qualified for the next round of the competition with a sprint of 47.86 seconds and Mahmad Bock won heat five with a time of 46.49 seconds, while Andre Retief finished fourth in heat six with a time of 47.25 seconds to also qualify to the next round of the 400m event.

Meanwhile, 800m runner David Dam qualified for the final of the 800m after clocking a time of 1:49.62 seconds.

Source: The Namibia Press Agency