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Botswana's Nijel Amos targets World Championship gold

Xinhua, August 5, 2015 Adjust font size:

Botswana's 800m runner Nijel Amos was treated to a hero's welcome as he arrived in the country's capital city of Gaborone on Tuesday afternoon as he gears for the upcoming World Athletics Championships scheduled for Beijing, China later this month.

A crowd, among them President Seretse Khama Ian Khama, Sports Minister Thapelo Olopeng and other top government and sport officials gathered at the National Stadium in Gaborone to welcome their hero back home after recent successes in the IAAF Diamond League.

The 21-year-old Olympic silver medallist told the crowd that he feels he will be in top condition at the World Championship where he targets another gold.

Addressing the gathering, Amos said he has been working very hard with his South African based coach Jean Verster and he has improved tremendously from the beginning of the season up to now.

"We have worked hard on my sprint and finishing and I feel good right now, I ran a couple of short distance races that helped me improve my finishing," he said.

Amos will once again hope to beat his nemesis, Kenyan David Rudisha to the podium in Beijing after beating him in London over a week ago.

After sprinting to silver as an 18-year-old in London in 2012, Amos has never looked back as he has recorded six wins against Rudisha in the Diamond League and the Commonwealth Games.

This has in recent years made the 800m race among the most interesting in any meet when the two square off as the Kenyan tries to prove he is still the man to beat in the two-lap race. A win for Amos in Beijing will mount pressure on the Olympic champion as the 2016 Rio Olympics are already in the horizon.

Amos was however modest on his competition saying he respects anyone who lines up against him on the track saying his mission was only to finish top.

Despite being top of the Diamond League standings, he recently got a check at Monaco meeting in July when he was surprisingly beaten by Bosnian Amel Tuka with a time of 1:42:51 to Amos's 1:42:66 in a race which he also recorded his season's best. Meanwhile Amos will finalize his preparations in South Africa before departing to Beijing for the World Championships. Endi