Paris is Ramaala's stepping stone

SOUTH African marathoner Hendrick Ramaala is going for his second Paris Marathon appearance in France with one thing in mind - to improve his London Olympics qualifying time.

The 36th edition of the marathon will take place on Sunday with Ramaala hoping to better his 2002 finish of 2hrs:10min:06sec.

This will be Ramaala's last chance to guarantee himself a place in the London-bound team of three runners to represent the country at the Olympics. The SA Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee have made it clear they will take only the three runners with the fastest qualifying times to the Olympics in July.

As things stand, Lusapho April (2:09:25), Stephen Mokoka (2:10:29) and Coolboy Malinga (2:10:43) have the best qualifying times.

Ramaala, 40, met the Olympic standard after finishing 19th at the Dubai Marathon last month with a time of 2:12:12. "I'm not worried at all because I know that I will be part of the team going to London," he said yesterday.

"I have already run a qualifying time in Dubai, all that I have to do now is to improve it. I want to run under two hours, 10 minutes.

"I know the course very well and I'm confident that I will succeed. Paris is my base when I'm in Europe."

Should he run a better qualifying time in Paris, Ramaala will make history by being the first South African to feature in five consecutive Olympic Games. "For me it's not really about that, I want to go to London and contribute to the success of my country. We have to win medals, that is the mandate from Sport and Recreation Minister Fikile Mbalula."