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Johannesburg - After a leg injury delayed the start of his season, South African long jumper Khotso Mokoena is confident he will be ready to defend his world indoor title in Doha, Qatar next weekend.
Mokoena, the Olympic and world outdoor silver medallist, got his season off to a belated start with a 7.93 metre winning leap at the third Yellow Pages Series meeting in Potchefstroom on Thursday night, narrowly defeating former national champion Keenan Watson by six centimetres.
A leg injury kept him out of the Aviva Indoor International team meeting in January, as well as the opening two events of South Africa's domestic season, and while he wasn't entirely happy with his efforts in Potchefstroom, he remains confident that he can retain the global indoor title he won in Valencia in 2008.
"We were gunning for eight metres, and it was quite close, so it went okay but it wasn't great," Mokoena said on Friday.
"I suppose it was just one of those days when it doesn't quite go your way."
Mokoena had a superb 2009 campaign, winning silver at the World Championships in Berlin and bronze at the World Athletics Final in Thessaloniki. He also showed tremendous consistency, jumping further than 3.30m on five occasions, topped by a new African record of 8.50m set in Madrid in July.
And while his pre-season hasn't gone quite as well as it did last year, with not one indoor race under his belt in 2010, he hopes to find something near his best form by the time his qualifying round starts in Doha next Friday.
"I really would have liked some indoor preparation but the injury held me back, so it's a tough situation but mentally I'm ready," said Mokoena, who turns 25 on Saturday.
"Once I get to Doha and I see the other athletes, and I experience the atmosphere, I'm sure I'll be ready to go."
