daniel chigunwe
Ellina Mhlanga Senior Sports Reporter
ZIMBABWE will have two representatives at the World Athletics Under-20 Championships which get underway tomorrow in Nairobi, Kenya.
Youth coach, Briad Nhubu, says it’s a positive sign from the athletes.
The meet is running until August 22.
Sprinters Clinton Muunga and Samukeliso Ndebele are set to represent the country.
They were set to leave for Kenya late yesterday accompanied by coach Zibusiso Nyoni.
“It’s very important that Zimbabwe has two athletes, who are going for the junior championships, by qualification,’’ said Nhubu.
“This means, in terms of performance, the country is capable of producing quality athletes, who can meet the global standards.
“A lot more could have also made it to this prestigious world extravaganza had it not been that we faced serious challenges, due to the Covid-19 challenges.
“We have athletes who just missed the benchmark by very narrow margins.’’
Muunga ran qualifying times, when he clocked 10.46 seconds, in the men’s 100m, and 21.21 seconds, in 200m.
Ndebele ran 23.30 seconds to make the women’s 200m.
The qualifying time for junior men 100m is 10.58 seconds and, for 200m, it’s 21.38 seconds.
For junior women, the 100m qualifying time is 11.85s and, for 200m, it’s 24:35s.
“Both athletes are in good shape and raring to go.
“Considering that Clinton made a double qualification, in 100m and 200m, l am optimistic that he will pull through to the semis, in one of these two.
“Had it not been that his preparations were affected by the Covid-19 problems, l was also looking forward to see him in the finals, in either of the events.
“Samukeliso has shown very good performances, during the preparation stage, though under Covid protocols, so l also expect her to feature in the semis.
“However, finals maybe tricky considering that it is a world competition, where she will be facing athletes, who had been training throughout.’’
Nhubu said, in future, preparations should be based on long-term planning, to ensure athletes are adequately prepared.
“All stakeholders should be engaged, in the preparations, well in advance.
“World-class performance is now based on scientific training,” said Nhubu.
“Long-term performance planning is the panacea to world-class performance and, as a federation, NAAZ should step up, in applied sports science training.
“High performance centres are key to development of physical abilities in sport, so our athletes must be exposed to the facilities, as we prepare for qualification.’’
At the previous edition, three years ago, Zimbabwe fielded five juniors in Finland.
Online Reporter