17th African Senior Athletics Championships-Team of 14 fly to Kenya tomorrow |24 July 2010

The five-day championship will take place from July 28 to August 1 at the Nyayo National Stadium.

Of the 14 athletes, only two – javelin specialist Lindy Leveau-Agricole and high jumper William Woodcock – beat the qualifying standards.

The other 12 members of the team are Alice Khan (100m), Janet Boniface (long and triple jump), Simone Jaffa (10,000m), Lissa Labiche (high jump), Mervyn Loizeau (100m, 4x100m relay and 4x400m relay), Yannick Vidot (100m, 4x100m relay and 4x400m relay), Leeroy Henriette (200m, 400m, 4x100m relay and 4x400m relay), Danny D’Souza (100m, 4x100m relay and 4x400m relay), Neddy Marie (200m, 400m, 4x100m relay and 4x400m relay), Jude Sidonie (long and triple jump), Simon Labiche (5,000m) and Renny Bijoux (triple jump).

Raymond D’Souza will head the delegation, which includes three coaches – Carlos Sanchez, Eugène Ernesta and Joseph Volcy.
In Nairobi, Leveau-Agricole will be defending her silver medal won in 2008 and trying to go futher, on to the top step of the podium.

In Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, two years ago, Leveau-Agricole – holder of the Seychelles record of 57.86m – won the javelin silver medal with a best throw of 52.92 metres at her first attempt.

The gold was won by former African record holder Sunette Viljoen with a throw of 55.17m. African gold medallist in 2004 and Commonwealth Games gold medallist in 2006, Viljoen won in the absence of compatriot and holder of the African record Justine Robbeson, who did not take part after suffering a serious ankle injury during a training session two days before the competition. Egyptian Hanaa Omar won the bronze with a distance of 52.32m.
  
Three-time Sportswoman of the Year Leveau-Agricole, who will be competing in the biennial African Athletics Championship for the fifth time in her career, was the gold medallist at the 11th championship in 1998 in Dakar, Senegal, silver medallist in 2000 in Algeria and bronze medallist with a distance of 54.51m in 2006 at the Germain Commarmond Stadium in Bambous, Mauritius.

Among the world-class athletes expected to grace the championship at the Nyayo National Stadium are Ethiopia’s “baby-faced assassin” Tirunesh Dibaba (the double Olympics 5,000m and 10,000m gold medallist, as well as record holder over both distances), South Africans Mbulaeni Mulaudzi (world 800m men’s champion) and Caster Semenya (women's 800m Berlin gold medallist), Nigeria’s Oludamola Osayomi (African 100m women’s titleholder) and Sudan’s Abubaker Kaki Khamis (two-time 800m world indoor champion).

Countries that have already confirmed their entrants are: Kenya (hosts), Ethiopia, South Africa, Cape Verde, Chad, Nigeria, Sudan, Botswana, Senegal, Comoros, Gambia, Seychelles, Equatorial Guinea, Rwanda, Ghana, Burkina Faso, Congo-Brazzaville, Burundi, Gabon, Morocco, Mozambique, Guinea Bissau, Eritrea, Togo, Swaziland, Egypt, Liberia, Gambia, Benin, Central African Republic, Mauritius, Zambia, Malawi, Algeria and Tunisia.

G. G.