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Kenya: Athletics - Momanyi Has Sights On Beijing
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The Nation (Nairobi)
28 April 2008
Posted to the web 28 April 2008
Sammy Kitula
Nairobi
Grace Momanyi, who recently graduated to the senior 5,000m category, has vowed to destroy the formbook and secure a slot in the forthcoming Olympic Games.
Momanyi, 19, said yesterday she was focused on winning a slot in the team, adding that she won't have her dismal performance in this year's World Cross Country Championships derail her plan.
At the 2008 World Cross Cross Championships she finished 10th in the individual race.
"In Edinburgh, I didn't perform as I had expected, although that won't deter me ahead of my next assignment as I'm focussed on winning in Ethiopia," said Momanyi.
Also eager to record positive results is World junior steeplechase record holder and All Africa Games women's champion, Ruth Bosibori.
She has promised to bounce back from erratic form to win her specialty at the 16th Africa Championships in Athletics (AAC) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Certain of winning
After bursting into the limelight last year with a gold medal at the All Africa Africa Games in Algiers, Bosibori is yet to record any win.
"Since I won at the All Africa Games, it took me a long period before I regained my form. But I have worked on my weak points and I'm certain of winning.
"I know the challenge ahead is massive but I am confident of scooping gold in Addis. I'm in a good shape and I have trained well," said Bosibori, who lost the national trials to little known Lydia Rotich last weekend.
Rotich, 19, a former national schools champion, clocked 10:01.7 to humble the continental champion who clocked 10:05.8.
"I want to use the Africa Championships to hit the Olympic qualifying mark," said Bosibori, a member of the Kipchoge Keino High Altitude Training Camp in Eldoret.
The soft-spoken athlete is among the favourites in the race in the absence of Uganda's track star, Dorcas Inzikuru, who has skipped the event with an eye on the Olympic Games.
Facing daunting task
Other top athletes expected to give Bosibori a run for her money include Ethiopia's Mekdes Bekele Tadese and Netsanet Achamo who won silver medal and bronze respectively at the All Africa Games and new kid on the block Lydia Rotich.
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Although coach Julius Kirwa expects the team to perform better than they did during the World Cross Country championships, he has conceded that Kenya's inexperienced team of long distance runners faces a daunting task against tough opposition at the continental event.
Kirwa said they had to settle for the young runners after elite athletes failed to show up for the national trials. "We had expected to have top runners at the trials, but after they failed to show up, this left us with no other alternative but to focus on the young athletes," said the coach.
More than 2,000 athletes will compete in Addis Ababa at the April 30-May 4 event, which will provide a good chance to warm up for August's Beijing Olympics.
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