Sport - It is said that nothing can keep a good man down. In the case of high jumper Usaamah Vally the theft of his athletics gear a day before the Puma School of Speed athletics meet in Durban recently didn’t deter him from soaring higher in his specialist event.
The Parlock teenager’s high jump spikes, kit and athletics shoes were stolen from his father Faizal’s car in a remote jamming incident in Overport.
However Vally showed that one’s talent can’t be stolen, as his determination carried him through to second place despite competing without the proper shoes and equipment for his specialist event.
The Grade 12 pupil at Orient Islamic School cleared 1.85m to take silver in the boys final, behind Mauritz Lottering who jumped 1.9m.
The 1.92m tall athlete achieved the same mark of 1.85m at the same venue in the first KZN Athletics League meet a week before the Speed Series.
Three days before the third leg of the national series, which is recognised by athletics federations, Vally jumped 1.9m at a South African Schools Association (Sasa) meet at Kings Park.
If that jump is recognised it will will enable him to participate at the Sasa National Championships in Potchefstroom next month.
The required qualification height for that meet in North West Province is 1.88m.
In addition to second place, Vally got to meet national sprint stars Anaso Jobodwana and South Africa’s second fastest 100m sprinter, Thando Roto, the vice principal of the School of Speed. Retired sprinter Usain Bolt is the principal.
Vally senior said he hoped to get Usaamah sponsored into the Prime Advanced Training Centre at Moses Mabhida Stadium where specialist facilities and training are available.
All going well, the high jumper is targeting the Athletics South Africa Youth Gold Medal in Paarl in the Mother City in April.
This was the first year that high jump and long jump disciplines had been added to the event, which previously focused primarily on the sprinters.
The top performers on the day received medals and Puma spikes. Performances count towards qualification for provincial and national championships and the most talented athletes at the end of the five-event series will have an opportunity to join Puma’s ambassador programme.
Among other results, Junaid Syed of the Puma Invitational Team won the boys’ under-19 long jump with a leap of 6.51m, Jassiel Naidoo of the Puma Invitational Team finished third in the under-14 long jump, Justeen Pillay of Danville Park Girls’ School won the girls’ under-14 100m final, and Brad Reddy of Maritzburg College finished third in the boys’ under-17 100m final with a time of 11.73 seconds.