Mwangangi, Kithuka win Kenya more medals in Mauritius

Kenya’s medal hunt continued on the third day of the Ninth Africa Junior Championship, in Port Louis, Mauritius, with John Mwangangi and Kennedy Kithuka winning silver and bronze in the men’s 5,000m race.

Ethiopia’s Abera Kuma Lema was in a class of his own as he edged out the Kenyan pair to clinch the gold in 13:42.53.

It was the second gold for the Ethiopians after ruling the roost in the men 10,000m a clear indication that kenya’s battle in the long distance is under threat.

Mwangangi posted a fast time of 13:42.88 to settle for silver while Kithuka was timed at 13:43.94 in taking the bronbze medal ahead of another Ethiopian Ayele Abshero Biza 13:44.21.

Ezechiel Nizigiyimana (Burunbdi) was fifth in 13:55.06 ahead of Ramolefi Motsieloa (Lesotho) 14:54.39. The Africa record stands at 12:52.61.

In the men’s 800m semi-finals, Kenya ruled domination was evident as both Nickson Tuwei and David Mutinda won in their respective races to book the ticket to the finals.

Tuwei was first in heat one clocking 1:52.42 to beat Mohamed Aman Geleto of Ethiopia to second in 1:52.52 while Ratlale Mokone of South Africa was third in 1:52.72 to take the last automatic qualification slot.

The race was also the fastest of the two and both Antoine Gakeme (Burundi) 1:52.81 and Daniel Lagamang (Botswana) 1:52.91 qualified to the finals as the best losers.

Faster time

In Heat Two, Mutinda was strong to ran a faster time of 1:49.81 to edge out his closest rival South Africa’s William Mothosola 1:49.95 to second while Zebene Alemayehu Bekele of Ethiopia was third in 1:50.91. The African record stands at 1:42.69.

Kenya’s head of delegation Joseph Kinyua said the team, which is sponsored by National Bank of Kenya to a tune of Sh16.1 million is in high spirits and keen to topple giants South Africa at the helm.

Kenya has so far won 11 medals – three gold, six silver and two bronze. South Africa is leading the standings with four gold.

A total of 21 countries are taking part in the four five day championship. They are Algeria, Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Congo, Comoros, Ethiopia, Egypt, Kenya, Lesotho, Mauritius, Madagascar, Namibia, Nigeria, South Africa, Senegal, Seychelles and Sudan.

Mauritius was picked to host the championship after the withdrawal of Seychelles and Equatorial Guinea.