Chronicle Editor
Lovemore Dube in DOUALA, Cameroon
TAPIWANASHE Makarawu was the toast of the Zimbawe athletics team at the African Senior Track and Field Champonships got to a shambolic start here at Japoma Stadium with starters discarding the starting gun in preference of clapping.
He won his 100m heat in 10.35 seconds. His compatriots were not so lucky on hot and humid afternoon. Denis Hove a Bulawayo rising sprinter qualified for the 400m semis finishing second in 45.9 seconds.
They will be on the track on Saturday afternoon in the semis. The malfunction in the running of the event was written all over the screen from morning. Things appeared not to go well on many fronts with teams that travelled on Kenyan Airlines still waiting for their bags.
A visit by many of the countries to the International Airport was met with gloom as they were advised that most probably on the second day would they get their luggage which is Saturday.
Most of the affected traveled into Doula on Thursday night. With bags still holed up in Nairobi, Kenya, participants, administrators, technical team and media endured a frustrating ordeal with the accreditation amid length delays exacerbated by language challenges.
The Zimbabweans eventually got accredited after lunch and an hour later were at the starting blocks for the 100 and 400m preliminaries. While expectation is that soon after the race, results get availed, athletes had to go on a wild goose chase warming up for the 100m semi-finals in anticipation.
An hour and half later Ngoni Makusha and Daniel Kamurengemu returned with news that they had failed to make the cut. They were not privy to their preliminary rounds times and authenticated positions.Only at about 1930 hours were results made public.
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