SEMENYA 400 M PB

BELVILLE (RSA, Mar 10): Caster Semenya won the 400 m in 54.03 at the third meet of South African Yellow Pages Series in Cape Town area. It was her first competition at the distance registered. On a cold and windy evening she said she wants to get ready for 800 m at national championships to be held in April. Stephen Mokoka achieved good quality 13:28.60 in the 5000 m. In the women race Zintle Xiniwe clocked personal best 15:53.53. Long jumpers suffered with strong wind. Young Luvo Manyonga won with exactly 8 meters over former world indoor champion Godfrey Mokoena 797. Healthy Mokoena was with most of the jumps 30-40 cm behind the board. High quality also Cornel Fredericks at 400 m hurdles with 49.33 concerning the weather conditions and no altitude. Steeple record holder Ruben Ramolefi achieved sub 4 personal best over the mile 3:59.69. Javelin winners were Hardus Pienaar (77.65) and Justine Robbeson (58.78).

 

BORZAKOVSKIY FOR JUNE

MOSCOW (RUS): Russian head coach Valentin Maslakov said that he counts with Yuriy Borzakovskiy for summer. The 800 m 2004 olympic gold medalist passed the indoor season due to his health difficulties end of last year. Maslakov hopes that Borzakovskiy will be ready by European Team Championships in June in Stockholm. Maslakov also informed that pole vault star Yelena Isinbayeva is in good training, normal for this period of the year.

 

DE LOACH WITH DOYLE

ATLANTA (USA): Janay DeLoach who surprised in Albuquerque with her first US title in the Long Jump with an impressive 6.99m win over World champion Brittany Reese, has signed with Doyle Management. DeLoach, from her Colorado home said: "I am really excited and blessed to have this opportunity. I'm looking forward to the challenge of establishing myself against some of the most talented athletes on the circuit. I feel that I have taken the first step towards that goal by coming on board with Doyle Management." Paul Doyle, who is no stranger to the long jump and is the former coach of Dwight Phillips, said: "We are very excited to have Janay on board. Having witnessed her performance in Albuquerque, I am very impressed with Janay's talent. I think she has the ability to fight for medals for many years to come. She has appeared to come from out of nowhere but in truth she has been working hard for many years to get to where she is. I think we have just seen a glimpse of what Janay is capable of and I anxiously await her development this outdoor season."

 

 

 

OTHER NEWS

 

 

BERLIN (GER): World discus champion Robert Harting has spoken up against the threat of not televising the IAAF World championships in Daegu live on German television. On his facebook and website Harting announced he supports a group against the blackout of the World Championships on German television (www.kein-wm-blackout.org). ARD and ZDF have said to remain open for more negotiations regarding the subject and hope to have found a solution before March 25th.

 

LONDON (GBR): The British Olympic Association (BOA) is to take its row over cash with London 2012 to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) writes Insidethegames. The unprecedented decision to take the matter to sport's highest court is because the BOA fear that even if the International Olympic Committee (IOC) do find in their favour in the dispute over the Joint Marketing Agreement (JMA) between them and London 2012 it could still be challenged. A CAS decision could take several months but would be final and binding on the question whether the BOA is entitled to a share of the surplus from the Olympic Games alone or the Games and the Paralympic Games combined.

 

TOKYO (JPN): Brett Larner informs that the top Japanese and 3rd place overall finisher at the Tokyo Marathon Yuki Kawauchi (24, an administrative assistant in a Saitama high school) gave his prize a hybrid car from race sponsor BMW worth of around 70 000 USD to his mother. After the race he sent an email to his mother, who drives a domestically-manufactured compact car, saying, "I'm giving you the car. From now on you're going to work in a BMW."

 

LONDON (GBR): And another row is threatening to engulf the British Olympic Association (BOA) after complaints from Northern Ireland's Sports Minister Nelson McCausland that "Team GB" is discriminatory and should be changed to "Team UK" reports Insidethegames. The BOA have in recent Games established "Team GB" as a powerful marketing brand, even though its official title is "Team GB and Northern Ireland".

 

HARARE (ZIM): The Zimbabwe Olympic Committee (ZOC) have appointed Stanley Mutoya as their new chief executive to replace Robert Mutsauki. Mutsauki left ZOC, after having served six years at the ZOC, to take up the post of technical director on a full-time basis at the Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa (ANOCA). Mutoya joined ZOC in May 2006 as its operations manager and overseeing business development, roles he held until his promotion in 2008 to general manager reports Insidethegames.

 

PORTLAND (USA): Mo Farah, a longtime Adidas-sponsored athlete, confirmed via his Twitter he is now an official member of the Nike-backed Oregon Project. Farah already began training with Alberto Salazar earlier this year and is planning a move to the United States. Farah's first race in his Nike Uniform will be the New York City Half Marathon on March 20th.

 

BRESCIA (ITA): Winner of last year Mombasa marathon in 2:08:05 James Mbugua who also clocked 2:11:30 in Ljubljana the same year is one of the favorites for Sunday´s Brescia Art Marathon. Course record is 2:09:17 by Matthew Sigei since 2003. Also running is Ethopian Abebe Negeno Degefa with 2:09:52 best from Vienna 2009. In women race the top favorite is Ethiopian Abinet Simegn Yashinbel who was third in Sevilla 2009 with 2:33:22. Italian 13th placer from Barcelona Deborah Toniolo will run the half-marathon.

 

DUBLIN (IRL): British runner Charlotte Purdue who has been a revelation on this winter's cross country circuit will turn her attention to road running when competing at the SPAR Great Ireland Run in Dublin on April 10. Purdue who proved her vast ability for the future when lifting the European Junior Cross Country title last December then showed her excellent potential when winning the UK senior trial for the fast approaching IAAF World Cross Country Championships last weekend. Defending champion Freya Murray of Scotland or Irish favourites Mary Cullen and Fioouala Britton will also be in action at the Phoenix Park venue along with Ethiopian Berhane Adere one of the World's greatest distance runners.

 

LONDON (GBR): UK Athletics has confirmed that none of its athletes will be available to take part in the parade of nations at the Opening Ceremony of the London Olympic Games in which, according to Olympic protocol, the host country has the honour of being the last to march. Instead UK Athletics is keeping its squad well away from the festivities at holding camps in Monte Gordo, Portugal, and Font-Romeu in the French Pyrenees writes The Telegraph.

 

VANCOUVER (CAN): Canadian long jumper Ruky Abdulai is aiming to break Jessica Zelinka's national heptathlon record of 6490 points. Abdulai so far only competed in one heptathlon but managed to score a solid 6086 points. Abdulai is currently training solely for the heptathlon and hopes to make the Canadian team for the 2012 London Olympics reports the Vancouver Sun.

 

COLORADO SPRINGS (USA): Citigroup has signed a sponsorship deal with the U.S. Olympic Committee. Monetary details of the agreement were not disclosed, but the banking category has long been one of the most lucrative in the USOC cache, traditionally worth 10 million dollar to 15 million dollar for four years. This agreement, which includes ad buys on NBC's telecasts at the London Games, goes through 2012.

 

 

 

RESULTS

 

 

SYDNEY (AUS, Mar 11): Tasmanian Kaitlin Morgan had the crowd on their feet at the Australian Junior Athletics Championships second day, with the 16-year-old smashing her personal best to win the girl's under 18 high jump with 186 in pouring rain and become overall leader on the 2011 Australian senior rankings. In the boys U18 200 m New Zealander Josh Hawkins won with 21.68 (+0.2) and is Oceanian champion.

 

XINTAI (CHN, Mar 11): East Asian Champion 2009 Yu Wei won the 20 km walk at national walking GP meet in 1:20:43. The event is also qualifier for the 7th City Games. In the junior category excellent 1:21:40 for Chen Ding and in the U18 section the best was Yin Jiaxing with 1:25:59. Informs Tilastopaja.

 

 

 

SAD NEWS

 

 

KYIV (UKR): Ukrainian talented discus thrower Mariya Koshkaryova (20) died after an heart-attack. She had problems already end of the year, in January she underwent a major brain surgery at the Kyiv Institute of Neurosurgery, which lasted almost 9 hours. She was two months in intensive care under artificial ventilation lung machine. Doctors were fighting long for her life, but her heart was against. She was fifth placer at World Youth Championships 2007 in Ostrava, in 2008 in Bydgoszcz she was tenth at World Junior Championships and in 2009 fourth at European Junior Championships in Novi Sad. Her best was 54.45 from last year.