After qualifying for the 20th Africa athletics senior championships that will take place from June 22-26, in Durban, South Africa, Rwanda’s 1500m runner Beatha Nishimwe has vowed to raise the country’s flag high at the six-day event.

The 18-year-old claimed a bronze medal at the East African Junior Athletics Championship that concluded last week in Dar-es-salaam, Tanzania to qualify for the biennial event. She joined 19-year-old and 5000m runner Salome Nyirarukundo who qualified in March during the national trials, and 1000m runner Clementine Mukandanga who attained qualification during last year’s All African games that were held in Congo-Brazzaville.

"My focus now is the upcoming Africa championship and I want to do all it takes to win it,” she vowedNishimwe further revealed that she will use her recent experience in international events like IAAF World Indoor Championships that were held in March in Portland USA and Kenya Cross Country Championship held in Nairobi in February to shine.

The duo of Nyirarukundo and Nishimwe are also part of the five athletes that recently booked tickets to the forthcoming IAAF World Junior Athletics Championships, set for July 19 - 24 in Bydgoszcz, Poland.

The other three include 17-year-old Honorine Iribagiza, James Sugira, 19, and 19-year-old Jean Marie Vianney Myasiro. This number of athletes will be the biggest the country has ever entered for an international competition.

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