ASA puts leap of faith in Luvo for title

NEWLY crowned SA Sports Star of the Year Luvo Manyonga will spearhead a powerful long jump squad at the world indoor championships next year.

Athletics SA yesterday named a small preparation squad of just eight athletes‚ and the three biggest stars all come from the long jump.

Manyonga‚ the reigning world champion and Olympic silver medallist‚ Ruswahl Samaai (world championship bronze) and Zarck Visser (2014 Commonwealth Games silver) will be a force at the showpiece in Birmingham from March 1-4.

Samaai has already shared international podiums with both men‚ with Manyonga at the outdoor world championships in London in August and with Visser at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow‚ where he ended third.

The other three men in the SA squad are sprinters Henricho Bruintjies and Emile Erasmus and Orazio Cremona in the shotput.

The two women are US-based distance star Dominique Scott and sprinter Carina Horn.

Athletes omitted from the squad have until November 24 to appeal their exclusion. — DDC