A large South African team of 44 athletes were full of confidence before leaving on Saturday for the World Athletics U20 Championships starting in Lima, Peru on Tuesday.

The national squad includes four athletes who are ranked among the top four in the world in their age group - Njabulo Mbatha (400m hurdles), Udeme Okon (400m), Juan Marais (discus throw) and Temoso Masikane (long jump).

Sprint sensation Bayanda Walaza, who formed part of the 4x100m relay team that earned silver at the recent Paris Olympics, will compete in the 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay events in Peru. He will be joined in the relay by SA U20 100m record holder Bradley Nkoana, who was also a member of the team that stepped on the podium at the Olympics.

Multiple other athletes will also be confident of fighting for top positions in their specialist disciplines.

Viwe Jingqi, who won the national senior 100m title in Pietermaritzburg earlier this year, said she was eager to chase a place on the podium. Jingqi, the SA women's U20 record holder in the short sprint, finished sixth in the 100m final at the previous edition of the World Athletics U20 Championships in Colombia two years ago. She said she hopes to step on the podium in Lima.

"We're not going for experience anymore. We've got that, so I'm not just going there as one of the participants. I must race for a medal," Jingqi said. "I don't like putting pressure on myself but sometimes pressure is important. You can't keep running without goals, so the goal is to go there and run my best and anything can happen."

While Jingqi and others will be chasing medals, younger members of the team will be aiming to gain valuable experience. At the age of 16, Tumi Ramokgopa will be gunning for a place in the 400m hurdles final after she broke the SA U18 record to finish third at the ASA Senior Championships this season.

"I don't want to be too much in my head, but honestly to see how I've been training and how I've been progressing, I'm looking at getting into a final, and I hope I do," Ramokgopa said.

"It is my first world juniors so I'm not expecting big things. If a medal comes then that's great, but I am expecting a new personal best as well."

The biennial World Athletics U20 Championships will be held in Lima between 27-31 August.

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About Athletics South Africa:
Athletics South Africa (ASA) is the national governing body for the sport of athletics (including Track and Field, Cross Country, Road Running and Race Walking) in South Africa, is a member of World Athletics  and the Confederation of African Athletics.  The association was formed in 1995 and is based in Johannesburg.

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