Double amputee Pistorius, nicknamed the Blade Runner, will start in the 400 metres in Port Elizabeth and will also appear continuing with the 400 metres races in both Stellenbosch (27 February) and Germiston (6 March).
The first half of the 2009 Series saw some outstanding performances in Potchefstroom, Tshwane and Durban respectively.
Three athletes, Sunette Viljoen (javelin), Khotso Mokoena (long jump) and Ruben Ramolefi (3000m steeplechase) achieved the IAAF A qualifying standards for the IAAF World Championships in Berlin in August.
Viljoen followed her achievement in the first meeting in Potchefstroom with two more B qualifying performances in Tshwane and Durban while LJ van Zyl (400m), Janus Robberts (shot put) and Robert Oosthuizen
(javelin) also achieved the B standard.
Possibly one of the highlights of the first three meetings was the 1500 metres for men in Durban when three athletes Juan van Deventer, Tshamano Setone and Mbulaeni Mulaudzi dipped under 3:39:00 to achieve the B standard. Promising athletes Andre Olivier and Peter van der Westhuizen also came home under the 3:40,00 mark to make this race the best seen in South Africa for more than a decade.
All this augurs well for the last three meetings. In Port Elizabeth Pistorius will come up against a tough field in the 400 metres. Ofentse Mogawane, who has been campaigning at indoor meetings in Europe, LJ van Zyl, Pieter Smith and Sibusiso Sishi, will go up against him.
Mulaudzi, Setone, Van der Westhuizen, Johan Cronje, Windy Jonas, Samson Ngoepe and the evergreen Hezekiel Sepeng will line up in the 1500m and another fast time can be expected. Andre Olivier will take on the likes of Warren Hendriks, Adriaan van Wyk, Ettienne Plaatjies and Samuel Sepeng in the 800m.
Robert Oosthuizen and Hardus Pienaar will both be out to achieve the A qualifying standard in the javelin while Janus Robberts will also be looking for a 20m effort in the shot put for men.
The 1500 metres for women will see the talented Phalula twins in action and judging by their form the past weekend a fast time can be expected.
Looking forward to the meetings at Stellenbosch and Germiston several more highlights can be expected.
One of the many highlights at the last two meetings will be the tussle between Khotso Mokoena and Keenan Watson.
Mokoena started the new season well in Potchefstroom and then took time out to represent a star studded Commonwealth Select team at an international indoor meeting in Glasgow where his finished second only three centimetres behind the winner.
He is still smarting from his defeat at last year's SA Senior Championships at the hands of Watson and is out for revenge at the same track in Stellenbosch. World class performances can be expected from him.
Mulaudzi will take on the young lions in the 800m at both venues, Elizna Naude will be in action in the discus at all three meetings, top sprinters, Thuso Mpuang, Thabo Mathibidi, Kagiso Kumbane and Hannes Dreyer will be challenged by a crop of young sprinters while Tsholofelo Thipe and Isabel le Roux will provide fireworks in the women's sprinting events.
All the country's top athletes will take the last three (3) events as an opportunity to stake a claim for a World Championships berth but also to fine tune themselves for the Yellow Pages SA Senior Championships which will be held at Stellenbosch on 13 and 14 March.
The Stellenbosch leg of the Series will also see the participation of international relay teams from Kenya and Mauri
tius as this meeting has been accredited by the IAAF as one where relay teams can qualify for the World Championships.
Saudi Arabian athletes will be in action at the Germiston meeting and they surely will provide stiff competition for South Africa's elite men'
s hurdlers.
“We are extremely excited about the second phase of the Yellow Pages Series continuing this weekend and what better way to highlight the quality of the event than having the legendary Oscar Pistorius, amongst others, participate in the event. With great performances by athletes in the first three events, including some qualifiers for the IAAF World Championships, we wish all the athletes who will participate in the remainder of the Yellow Pages Series, all the best in achieving their goals,” said Thabo Seopa, MD of TDS, publishers of the Yellow Pages.
