Suwaibou Sanneh bow out of Championship in Daegu
- Friday, 09 December 2011
- Written by Peter Gomez
One of the top-seeded athletes that The Gambia Athletics Association (G.A.A) sent to compete for The Gambia at the 2011 World Championships Athletics currently underway in Daegu, South Korea has the bowed out during the heats of the competition.
Twenty-year old Suwaibou Sanneh who was tipped to bring glory to the nation as his personal best time was 10.43 seconds, achieved at the 2008 African Championships in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia has been eliminated by top World athletes, the likes of Usain Bolt, Yohan Blake, Jay Suma Saidy Ndure, just to name a few.
Suwaibou, who was given a by into the heats, ran below his personal best which was 10.43 as he failed to make it beyond the heats. Out of 55 athletes for the 100m race in the heats, Suwaibou came out 30th running 10.50s.
The Gambia’s hopes now are now vested in Fanny Shonobi for the 200m female race who will be making her debut in the World championships. Shonobi ran a personal best of 25.11s in 2010 but is yet to compete as her event does not start till 2nd of September.
She will be competing alongside the defending world champion Allyson Felix and reigning Olympic champion Veronica Campbell-Brown who were the principal contenders, although both were aiming for sprint doubles of 200/400 m and 100/200 m, respectively. Shalonda Solomon was the world-leader before the championships with her run of 22.15 seconds which made her the 2011 US champion. Other contenders included Carmelita Jeter, who was second in the rankings, and Jeneba Tarmoh (the fourth American runner) who was ranked fifth.