Current Master’s Public Management and Governance student Sabelo Dlamini and club members Cheswill Johnson and Shirley Nekhubui will compete in the upcoming 23rd Senior African Athletics Championship in Yaounde, Cameroon. The trio will be joined by the University of Johannesburg (UJ) Coach Patience Ntshingila and Club Manager Roger Haitengi.
The Championship is scheduled to take place on from 21 to 26 June 2024.
A seasoned campaigner in the 400m hurdles, Dlamini boasts several gold and silver medals across various competitions. Fresh off a gold medal win at the 2024 USSA Championships (50.52 seconds), the fast and tall youngster says he is hungry for continental glory.
Johnson, a recent UJ student and current Club member, will compete in the long jump events. Nekhubui, representing Team South Africa, will showcase her speed in the 200m and 400m sprints, as well as the exciting 4x400m mixed relay. This follows her participation in the 13th All Africa Games (Ghana) and the World Relays (Bahamas) in March and May this year.
These athletes (Dlamini, Johnson and Nekhubui) were selected from the Central Gauteng Athletics group of student and club athletes. Haitengi will represent his home country, Namibia, in triple jump. Ntshingila will accompany the South African group as a jumps coach.
“I’m excited and proud of myself. This was not one of the easiest years for me; having to finish my Master’s degree that required submitting everything on time and making it to training on time and competing very well.
“I’m proud that I can finally get the SA colours this year and the goal now is to get a medal in this competition. I’m going to a continental event in which I’m going to face other talented runners from the other African countries. I’m looking forward to what’s about to come and what my coach and I have been working on,” says Dlamini, speaking to UJ Sport before heading to Cameroon.
Former UJ student-athlete Kyle Blignaut will also feature in the competition in Shot Put.
Another emerging, young UJ Athletics student-athlete, Precious Molepo, will be heading to the inaugural BRICS Games in Russia this month. Molepo is ranked among the best Under-20 athletes on the World Athletics rankings as the 1x African champion, 1x African Under-20 champion, 2x African Under-20 Championships silver medalist, 4x In top 8 at World Under-20 Championships.
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