Chronicle Editor
Ricky Zililo, Senior Sports Reporter
AT a time Zimbabwean track and field athletes are still chasing the Tokyo Olympic Games qualification, two sprinters have qualified for the World Junior Championships.
Also known as the World Athletics Under-20 Championships, the World Junior Championships will be held in Kenya from August 17-22.
Clinton Muunga and Samukeliso Ndebele qualified for the global juniors’ meet in the National Athletics Association of Zimbabwe (Naaz) national championships held in Harare last Saturday.
Matabeleland South sprinter Muunga qualified for both the 100m and 200m races after running the races in 10.46 seconds and 21.21 seconds.
Qualifying ties for the junior men are 10.58 seconds for 100m and 21.38 seconds for 200m.
Ndebele qualified for the women’s 200m World Junior Championships finals with a time of 23.30 seconds. The standard qualifying time for the global Under-20 competition in the 200m women’s race is 24.35 seconds.
Naaz is hoping more junior athletes qualify for the World Junior Championships.
“We have been optimistic about the junior athletes. They have always been promising and we had expected that they will give us one or two good results in this period. Unfortunately, Covid-19 happened, but we’ve so far managed to get two to qualify for the World Junior Championships. The qualification period is not yet over and we hope some of our athletes that are closer to those times will keep pushing until they qualify,” said Naaz national director of coaching and talent identification development Phakamile Lisimathi. – @ZililoR
Online Reporter