Upbeat Akani shakes off Cape stadium snub
Star targets win in Paarl tonight
SA ace sprinter Akani Simbine has vowed not to let his being disallowed to train at the Green Point Stadium’s track stand in his way when he competes in the Liquid Telecom Athletix Grand Prix tonight.
Simbine is also shrugging off the disappointment of missing the SA Championships in Pretoria at the weekend due to a hamstring problem.
He is now fit to compete against newly crowned 100m champion Simon Magakwe and Henricho Bruintjies.
The trio are the major drawcards in tonight’s 100m contest at the Dal Josaphat Stadium in Paarl.
The race is a battle between the three men who all have held the SA record over the short dash at different occasions since Magakwe started the sub-10 trend in 2014.
Though he admits he was disappointed at being denied access to train at the Mother City venue, he maintains the incident did not derail his plans.
“It was very disappointing for me because I am a national athlete so now I cannot do my job if I am in a different province. They said I don’t have permission because the Western Cape Athletics does not own the track [it’s owned by the municipality],” Simbine said yesterday on the sidelines of the Grand Prix media conference at President Hotel in Cape Town.
“I still managed to put in my session and do what I had to do. I wanted to loosen up. I am still on track. I am in great shape and feeling healthy. It is going to be my first time racing in Paarl; I will be racing to win,” noted the SA 100m record holder.
Meanwhile, Kenyan athlete and former world javelin champion Julius Yego will test SA’s male throwers.
Yego says he will use the Grand Prix to prepare for the defence of his Commonwealth title in Australia next month.
‘‘ I still managed to put in my session and do what I had to do