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Track queen Semenya to lead Team SA in Morocco

Cape Town - Caster Semenya will lead a three-member South African contingent on Friday night at the ninth leg of the IAAF Diamond League series in Rabat, Morocco.

Semenya lines up as the firm favourite in the 1 000m women's race, with another quick time on the cards after she clocked a national record of 2:35.43 at the Liquid Telecom Grand Prix Meeting in Tshwane earlier this year. 

Her strongest opposition could come from Uganda's Winnie Nanyondo, a former Commonwealth Games 800m medallist, and Kenyan athlete Nelly Jepkosgei. 

In the 5 000m women's race, in-form distance runner Dominique Scott-Efurd faces a strong challenge from a quality field. 

She will be toe-to-toe on the starting line alongside the likes of indoor world record holder Genzebe Dibaba of Ethiopia and world champion Hellen Obiri of Kenya, in a large line-up which includes 19 athletes. 

Though IAAF World Championships medallists Luvo Manyonga, who is on duty at the World Cup in London this weekend and Ruswahl Samaai will not turn out at the Moroccan capital, Zarck Visser will carry the SA flag in the men's long jump, which does not form part of the official Diamond League series. 

Visser, who set a season best of 8.40m last month, faces a line-up which features former world indoor champions Marquis Dendy of the United States and Ignisious Gaisah of the Netherlands, as well as American athlete Jarrion Lawson, the 2017 IAAF World Championships silver medallist. 

Time schedules of athletes: 

19:55 - Zarck Visser (Long Jump)

22:05 - Dominique Scott-Efurd (5 000m)

22:38 - Caster Semenya (1 000m)

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