Gaborone — The Botswana 4x400m women's relay team, which earned a spot in the top 16 of the World Athletics Championships qualifications, has fallen two places-from position 14 to 16.

The team is fighting to secure a slot at the Budapest23 World Athletics Championships.

Botswana Athletics Association (BAA) vice president, Oabona Theetso has said in an interview that despite the drop, the team was still within the qualifying bracket.

"Though we have dropped to position 16, we are still in a good position to eventually reach Budapest, provided we continue to enter and win races," Theetso said.

He said if team did not participate in more races, while others record better times, the ladies may drop out of the top 16 qualifying bracket, and ultimately fail to go to the World Championships. "The best that BAA can do at this point is to facilitate participation in more races where the team can defend its times to keep it within the qualifying bracket," he said.

"Currently, there are no local races, but we are planning to have at least one on July 22 in Francistown where we will invite eight athletes per each category and we would also like to invite some relay teams from Zimbabwe and Zambia," he said.

Should the women's relay team fail to qualify for Budapest23, it would be the second World Championships without a woman representative from Botswana. The last time Botswana had a woman representative at the World Championships was in Doha in 2019.

The World Athletics Championships qualification deadline is July 30.

BOPA