GABORONE, April 24 (Xinhua) -- The Gaborone International Meet (GIM), an athletic event that is to be held at the National Stadium in Gaborone, Botswana has received entries from several African countries and regions.
Briefing the media on Tuesday, GIM Managing Director and former middle distance gold medalist, Glody Dube said this year's Commonwealth Games medalists, Isaac Makwala, Amantle Montsho and Baboloki Thebe were expected to headline the event.
The stars will compete in different track events with Thebe and Makwala hammering it out in the 200m event as part of their Doha Diamond League competition preparation.
The 17th edition of the IAAF World Championships is scheduled to be held between September 28 and October 6, 2019 in Doha, Qatar.
"Initially we did not have the 200m [event], but we have created the event for Makwala and Thebe. You know in private meets like these, sometimes we are controlled by athletes, and we can't run away from such [things] we need them to come and compete in our event," Dube said.
Regarding the international athletes, he said South Africa's 800-meter runner Caster Semenya, made it clear that she was busy with school work and that she was too busy preparing for the Doha meet.
GIM General Manager, Kitso Kemoeng said the event would start at 10am and different athletes would compete in different short, middle and long distance races as well as field events.
The event will be on April 29 and has received entries from Lesotho, Malawi, Maldives, Mozambique, Seychelles, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
