Athletics: Special Events Two competition-D’Souza smashes own 60m dash record |22 February 2010
Having already established his credentials as one of the country’s best sprinters and
Coached by former Olympian Arthur Agathine, the Aga Sonix’s sprinter was credited with a sizzling 6.89 seconds for a new Seychelles outdoor electronic record, lowering by four hundredths of a second his old best of 6.93 seconds clocked on January 24 last year.
The 22-year-old’s early good form has earned a second consecutive appearance at the 13th International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) World Indoor Championships in Doha, Qatar, from March 12-14.
“I worked hard for the record and being selected for the worlds is the icing on the cake,” he told Sports Nation after learning the good news.
“For this season, my priority remains the 100m record. I have to smash it but I know it will take a lot of hard work.
“I’m also quite happy with the level of competition and commitment of the other sprinters. This is good and it keeps the sport healthy. We have to keep on improving and stay focused as a team to do well at next year’s Indian Ocean Island Games (IOIG) on home soil.
“Competition will be tough in the sprints at the IOIG but we can fight for medals in the relays after coming close in 2007 with a very young team,” said D’Souza.
The last time D’Souza took part in the world indoors in 2008, he ran in lane eight of heat number two alongside American Leroy Dixon (6.64 seconds) and Portuguese Francis Obikwelu (6.70 seconds), setting a new men’s senior 60m dash indoor mark of 7.02 seconds in the Palau Velódromo Luis Puig stadium in Valencia, Spain.
G. G.