South Africa to send 62 athletes to IAAF World Junior
Championships
Athletics South Africa
18 May 2000 - Athletics South Africa (ASA) is to send a strong team to the 2000 IAAF World Junior Track and Field Championships.
This world event, which caters specifically for the under-20 age category (ie. Athletes age 19 and under), takes place in Santiago, Chile, from 19-22 October, this year. Banele Sindani, Chief Executive Officer of ASA, announced this today at a press conference in Johannesburg.
The ASA Squad consists of 62 athletes (44 boys and 18 girls)
As a result of ASAs Talent Identification Programme over the last three years, ASA is able to enroll the strongest team ever in this years IAAF World Junior Track and Field Championships, said Banele Sindani.
At the end of the 1999 Track and Field Season, ASA had 162 junior athletes ranked in the top 50 in the world. Of these athletes 104 were boys and 58 were girls. These figures put ASA well on track for achieving their goal of becoming one of the worlds top athletics nations by 2004.
As part of the Squads preparations for Chile, ASA will now send teams to compete in the AAACs Southern Region Youth Championships, being held in Mozambique in July, as well as the AAACs Southern Region Junior Championships, being held in the Seychelles in August.
The culmination of the Squads preparation will come when ASA selects its Squad for the Commonwealth Youth Games (athletes aged 18), taking place in Edinburgh, Scotland, from 9-15 August.
In September this year, all athletes on the Squad will have the opportunity to prove their fitness by competing in provincial league meetings, hosted by ASAs 17 provinces.
The Final Team to the IAAF World Junior Track and Field Championships will be announced in September this year.
The team to the IAU World 100km Challenge in Winschoten, Holland on 9 September, will be announced by ASA after the Comrades Marathon.
See the Athletics South Africa web site for more news from South Africa.