Although he stopped short of admitting it, Ferdinand Omanyala appears to be bitterly disappointed that he couldn’t resume his rivalry with South African sprint ace Akani Simbine.
Omanyala spent a month in the country training and competing at the Athletics South Africa Grand Prix Continental Tour Challenger in Tshwane and Germiston.
However, he did not get the chance to face his rival Simbine, who decided to sit out both legs of the Grand Prix, with Omanyala easing to victory in the 100m without much trouble.
The Kenyan, who is the fastest man in Africa, admitted that he would have liked to race against Simbine in his own backyard, but the South African was nowhere to be seen.
Omanyala, it should be noted, was a constant thorn in Simbine’s side last year as he broke his African record and dethroned him off his Commonwealth Games title.
It was believed the pair would write another chapter in their rivalry in South Africa, but Simbine had other ideas as he passed up the chance to redeem himself against Omanyala.
“I respect the fact that an athlete and their coach must choose races to run, so we can’t force them [Simbine] to run the races they don’t want to run,” said Omanyala.
“It is their plan, but our main goal is the World Champs and we know everyone will be there. No one will be out. Everybody who is anybody will be at the World Champs, so we expect good competition.”
Omanyala made light work of the field in both the Tshwane and Germiston legs of the Grand Prix, clocking times of 10.12 and 10.05 to beat a decent field in both races.
The 27-year-old Kenyan sprinter will now turn his attention to the FNB Botswana Golden Grand Prix next week in Gaborone, where he is expecting a tougher test, regardless of whether or not Simbine will be there.
“I always respect every athlete that comes to the track,” said Omanyala.
“Anyone who lines up at the start line is a courageous guy. So, I don’t despise anyone and I don’t look at names when I come to compete.
“The goal still remains; we were hoping to break the 10-second barrier here [in South Africa] but it has eluded us.
“The focus now shifts to Botswana, where the competition will be much higher than here, so we are hoping to go under 10 seconds there.”
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