Sixth flatwater African Canoe-Kayak Championships-Paddler Lespoir satisfied with bronze medals |28 October 2009
Sportsman of the Year Lespoir, 33, won bronze medals in the K1 200m (42.77 seconds) and
“This was my first international competition this year and I cannot ask for a better result,” said Lespoir, who last year won the K1 500m silver medal on the Masinga Dam in Kenya to qualify for the Olympic Games in Beijing, China.
He also won the bronze medal in the K1 200m at the same championships in 2008.
“I did not have a coach this year and therefore trained on my own for the championship. I also did not know what competitions the other paddlers had competed in since last year’s Olympic Games and how they fared. But I remained focused on what I had to do.
“To finish among the top three is very good, considering the fact that most of the Senegalese, Tunisians and South Africans are following intensive training abroad.
“I even won my 200m heat, but was unfortunate that another canoeist accidentally crossed into my lane in the final,” he added.
Chosen as male canoeist for 13 straight years, Lespoir won the first of the two K1 200m heats in 42.12 seconds ahead of eventual gold medallist Mrabet Mohamed Ali (42.45 in the heat and 39.30 in the final).
Ali also won the K1 500m gold medal with a time of 1:54.04, relegating South African Nkosinathitom NGcobo into second place with 2:03.44.
Alcino Gomes da Silva was the K1 200m runner-up with 41.62 seconds.
Tunisia amassed 25 medals – 13 gold, 10 silver and 2 bronze – to finish on top of the medals standings at the end of the championship, which included K1, K2, C1 and V1 200, 500, 1,000 and 4,000 races in the junior and senior categories for male and female competitors.
South Africa was second with 14 medals – 8 gold, 3 silver and 3 bronze – Angola third with 13 medals – 5 gold, 2 silver and 6 bronze – Senegal fourth with 9 medals – 8 silver and 1 bronze – Sao Tome and Principe fifth with 8 medals – 2 silver and 6 bronze – hosts Ivory Coast sixth with 4 bronze – and Seychelles seventh with 2 bronze.
G. G.