WeeklySA_AdminACTION-PACKED: The signs are already good for a bumper outdoor season on the way with many big names showing impressive early season form
By Sports Reporter
The World Athletics Continental Tour Gold series goes to southern Africa for the first time this weekend, with the Botswana Golden Grand Prix in Gaborone on Saturday, to be swiftly followed by the 2023 Wanda Diamond League kick off next week in Doha (May 5), as the international calendar moves into top gear.
The Continental Tour Gold meeting in Melbourne back in February was a teaser of what to expect in the rest of the series, while the traditional early season competitions in the US have whetted the appetite for the next few months.
Now the world’s leading track and field athletes will turn their attention to the premier one-day meeting circuits as they ramp up their preparations for the World Athletics Championships Budapest 23.
Social media has been ablaze in recent weeks thanks to world 100m champion Fred Kerley and Olympic 100m champion Marcell Jacobs with the two sprint stars talking up their chances in a head-to-head.
Whether that clash will happen before Budapest is yet to be confirmed, but it’s highly likely the two global sprint champions will each appear several times on the Diamond League and Continental Tour circuits in the coming months. Kerley has announced he will run his first 100m of the outdoor season in Yokohama, at the Seiko Golden Grand Prix on 21 May, while Jacobs has yet to reveal his competition schedule.
There will be many other head-to-head clashes as the season unfolds. The Diamond League meeting in Doha will bring together Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra and two-time world champion Anderson Peters in the men’s javelin, while the men’s 3000m boasts a star-studded field that includes world indoor record-holder Lamecha Girma and Olympic steeplechase champion Soufiane El Bakkali. World and Olympic 1500m champion Faith Kipyegon will also open her season in the Qatari capital.
Before then, the focus in Gaborone will likely centre around the sprints as Botswana’s rising sprint star Letsile Tebogo takes on Olympic champion Andre De Grasse over 200m. The men’s 100m, meanwhile, features world silver medallist Marvin Bracy and African record-holder Ferdinand Omanyala.
Sha’Carri Richardson, who sped to a wind-assisted 10.57 clocking over 100m earlier this month, will test her speed over 200m in Gaborone.
Her Jamaican rivals are in varying form; double Olympic champion Elaine Thompson-Herah has clocked 23.23 for 200m so far this year, while world 200m champion Shericka Jackson ran a world-leading 10.82 for 100m in Kingston. World 100m champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce had been set to open her season in Gaborone but had to cancel her participation due to a family emergency.
She now plans to open at the Kip Keino Classic in Nairobi on May 13.
The signs are already good for a bumper outdoor season on the way, with many big names showing impressive early season form.
Another world record-holder, Wayde van Niekerk, has made a welcome return to action this year. The South African sprinter sped to a world-leading 44.17 over 400m earlier this month and has already confirmed his participation in Oslo (15 June). Since returning from his career-threatening injury a few years ago, Van Niekerk has crept closer to regaining his medal-winning form, placing fifth at the World Championships last year. The early signs for 2023 are promising.
The Diamond League and Continental Tour calendars have changed slightly in recent months. The Diamond League meeting in Shanghai has been cancelled as the facility won’t be ready in time, and the meeting in Shenzhen has moved from August 3 to September 2.
The Continental Tour Gold meeting scheduled to take place in Grenada in April will no longer go ahead due to delays in completion of that track, while the Istvan Gyulai Memorial on July 18 is moving from Budapest back to its traditional home of Szekesfehervar.
After this weekend’s action in Gaborone, May will be an action-packed month with four more Continental Tour Gold meetings set to take place (Nairobi, Yokohama, Devonshire and Los Angeles) and two Diamond League fixtures (Doha and Rabat).
June will be even busier with no fewer than nine meetings spread across both circuits. Another five meetings will take place in July as athletes chase qualifying standards and world ranking points before the World Championships qualification window closes on 30 July.
And following the World Championships in Budapest, there will be four more Diamond League meetings – including the final in Eugene – and one more Continental Tour Gold competition, where newly crowned world champions will likely feature, as well as a host of athletes seeking revenge or redemption.
Wanda Diamond League calendar
5 May – Doha (QAT)
28 May – Rabat (MAR)
2 Jun – Florence (ITA)
9 Jun – Paris (FRA)
THE RETURN OF HAMZA
DRUG BAN: Zubayr selected in the SA A squad to tour Sri Lanka
By Sports Reporter
South Africa batter Zubayr Hamza is poised to make his international return in June after a nine-month drug ban. The 27-year-old, who has played six Tests, has been selected in the South Africa A squad to tour Sri Lanka.
Hamza was banned from all cricket-related activities by the International Cricket Council (ICC) last May. He told the ICC he intended to take his own anti-allergy medication but instead ingested his father’s heart medicine, containing banned substance Furosemide.
His suspension ended in December and Hamza, who has always denied taking a banned substance intentionally, has since played four first-class matches in South Africa’s domestic competition.
The squad will be captained by Tony de Zorzi, who recently made his debut at Test and one-day level against West Indies. The experienced figures of Keegan Petersen, Kyle Verreynne, Gerald Coetzee and Tristan Stubbs – who have all competed at international level – are also included.
In a squad mixing experience and youth, 19-year-old prospect Dewald Brevis – nicknamed ‘Baby AB’ in honour of former Proteas skipper AB de Villiers – and 21-year-old Jordan Hermann will also make the trip.
“The squad reflects the next crop of players that are emerging from our pipeline. We also rewarded those who have performed for their respective domestic teams this past summer,” said Test head coach Shukri Conrad. “The tour will provide the opportunity for those players, together with the younger Proteas, to put their skills to the test in highly competitive, international conditions.
“It will also serve to strengthen the batting depth in the red-ball department, as we build towards the Test series against India later this year.”
South Africa A squad: Tony de Zorzi (captain), Corbin Bosch, Matthew Breetzke, Dewald Brevis, Gerald Coetzee, Zubayr Hamza, Jordan Hermann , Tshepo Moreki, Senuran Muthusamy, Keegan Petersen, Sinethemba Qeshile, Lutho Sipamla, Tristan Stubbs, Kyle Verreynne, Lizaad Williams.-BBC
Published on the 96th Edition
