Two athletes will represent Namibia at this year’s IAAF World Youth Championships which will be held in Lille, France from July 6 to 10 2011.
Shiivomwene Shilongo and Sune Wittman are two of the three athletes that qualified for the Championships.
The team manager, Modestus Mwiila, who will travel with the two athletes said that the third athlete Kauajo Timbato would not be travelling with the team due to problems with obtaining a passport.
“Namibia will be represented by two athletes instead of the three who qualified because Kauajo could not get his passport in time,” Mwiila said.
Timbato would have taken part in the 200m sprint.
Shilongo will take part in the 2 000m steeplechase which she qualified for at the CAA Southern Region Track and Field Championships which were held in Windhoek in May.
She qualified with a time of 7:13.77 after the qualification time had been set at 7:15.00.
Wittman who also won gold at the same competition qualified for the javelin throw in Germany when she threw a distance of 43.83 when she needed a distance of 43.50 to qualify.
Wittman said she had been working hard and was expecting to bring back a medal from the World Championships.
“I expect a very big throw because I worked and practiced hard, so hopefully that will result in a medal for Namibia,” Wittman said.
Mwiila said that he had faith in the two to perform well in France.
“It is a very big competition where they are going to meet very strong athletes from countries like Jamaica, Kenya and the United States, and they are going there with the focus of being competitive so I expect they will do very well.”
“I hope they will bring back medals and improve on their personal best times and distances,’ Mwiila said.