Luvo Manyonga to lead SA indoor team

A six-member national team will be gunning for podium places at the World Indoor Championships, and they are expected to receive additional firepower from former gold medallist Khotso Mokoena in Birmingham next month.

Long jumper Luvo Manyonga, the outdoor world champion and African indoor record holder (8.40m), would spearhead the small squad, Athletics South Africa (ASA) confirmed on Tuesday.

He will be joined by World Championships bronze medallist Ruswahl Samaai, and while the team was limited to two athletes in the discipline, 2008 world indoor champion Mokoena was expected to receive a wildcard entry after winning the long jump discipline in last year’s World Indoor Tour series, according to ASA.

The team also featured sprinter Carina Horn, who recently set a national indoor 60m record of 7.09, and distance runner Dom Scott-Efurd, who cracked the SA indoor 1 500m (4:07.25) and 3 000m (8:41.18) marks earlier this month, after both athletes missed out on places in the squad for the upcoming Commonwealth Games.

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