Alkana clears the hurdles for a gold medal

SOUTH AFRICA took gold on the track at the All Africa Games , in Brazzaville, Congo, last night when Antonio Alkana won the 110m hurdles in a time of 13.32 seconds. This took South Africa past 100 medals overall in the second week of the event.

He beat off the challenge of Algerian Lyra Mokdell (13.49sec) and Nigerian Tyrone Akins (13.54sec).

In the blue-riband 100m race, Capetonian Roscoe Engel (10.45sec) finished fourth in a race won by Ivorian Ben Youssef Meite, in 10.04sec.

South Africa’s Anaso Jobodwana, tipped for a medal in the 100m, withdrew from Sunday’s 100m semifinals due to illness.

The 200m world championships bronze medallist said of his condition: “It’s something in my stomach area, actually more the fascia”.

“I did feel it in my heat but it got worse afterwards. It’s a pity because I came here with the intention of racing the 100m. Now I’m off until next year again.”

On Sunday Russell Tucker claimed gold in the men’s discus with a throw of 60.41 metres. Tucker, despite the win, was not completely satisfied with his performance.

“I really haven’t had enough time to recover from a left knee injury and today my shoulder wasn’t moving well either so it’s been a tough time lately. And there’s also been lots of studying as well,” said Tucker, a third-year accounting student in Johannesburg. “It’ll take some time to get back to 66m form but the encouraging thing is that I’m not studying next year during Olympic year so my plans are all laid down building up for Rio.”

The athlete is optimistic ahead of the Olympics. “It’s not about qualifying for Rio, it’s about winning a medal in Rio, that’s the way I’m thinking,” said the 25-year-old.

“Anyway, despite me not throwing that far tonight, gold is gold and it’s also my first major medal.”

Also on Sunday, in the women’s triple jump, Zinzi Chabangu placed fifth in 13.00m and Patience Ntshingila was eighth with a 12.77m best on the night. – Sports staff and ANA