• Muneria bags silver in Africa beach half marathon.
• Florence Malyunga comes home fourth place in the women's category.
Image: COURTESY
Kenya's Charles Muneria bagged silver in the Africa Beach Games’ Half Marathon in Cape Verde yesterday.
Muneria posted 1:05:24 with Uganda’s Robert Chemonges taking gold in 1:04:48 Djibouti’s Moumin Bouh rounded up the podium positions after registering 1:06:12.
Muneria was delighted with the result in hot and humid conditions in the Atlantic Ocean Island. The conditions were tough but I was able to keep up with the Ugandan and it was only in the final kilometre where I struggled to keep up with the pace,” added Muneria.
He said he was hit badly with humidity in the final three kilometres and decided to take it easy.
Muneria said this was his first half marathon since 2016 and was happy to give the country its first medal in the event. “The course was very good but the humidity took a toll on me in the final kilometres. All the same, I am happy with the silver and I will go back to the drawing board to work things out,” he noted.
He said from the beginning, he knew the Ugandan runner was going to be a threat having followed his races in the recent past. However, Chemonges said he was more worried about the Djibouti runner than Kenya’s Muneria.
Khatoane Jobo of Lesotho finished fourth in 1:07:13 with Sanca Ruben of Cape Verde placing fifth in 1:10:18. Chitsala Kefasi of Malawi was placed sixth in 1:11:32 as Nigeria Adamu Shehu was placed seventh in 1:11:43.
In the women’s category, Florence Malyunga came home fourth, after posting 1:22: 37. she said the first 10km was perfect and like her counterpart Muneria, the humidity was her undoing in the second half of the race.
Algeria’s Riham Senani took top honours in 1 hour, 18minutes and 20 seconds while Namibia’s Halitope Lavinia settled for silver in 1:19:06. Priscilla Chelangat of Uganda completed the podium in 1:20:25 with Machado Adelaide of Angola ( 1:23:51 ) and Nigeria’s Olude Fadekemi ( 1:24:40 ) rounding off the top six places. Lesotho’s Chaka Lineo of Lesotho placed seventh in 1:25:55.
Kenya is being represented in various discipline in the 10-day event including tennis, athletics, beach volleyball, handball, kiteboarding and karate.
Winners in various events will qualify for the World Championship later in the year at a venue to be disclosed later in the year. There is every likelihood that Qatar could host the event although the decision is expected to be made this week. The next edition of the Africa Beach Games will be held in Morocco next year.
Meanwhile, Sea Forest Waterway, which will play host to rowing events at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, opened on Sunday with the sport’s world governing body praising organisers for delivering a “world class” venue on schedule.
Sprint canoeing, as well as para-rowing and para-canoeing, will also feature at the newly-built venue next year. International Rowing Federation president Jean-Christophe Rolland, himself an Olympic gold medallist from Sydney 2000, was glad the venue was completed on time.