Chronicle Editor
Ricky Zililo, Senior Sports Reporter
HAVING been represented by three athletes at the just ended World Athletics Championships in Oregon, United States of America, the National Athletics Association of Zimbabwe (Naaz) wants to double the number for next year’s athletics premier event.
Not only does Naaz want to increase participation of athletes at the 2023 edition of the World Athletics Championship to be held in Budapest, Hungary next year, it also desires to have female athletes qualify for the meet.
At the Oregon championships, male athletes represented Zimbabwe, with Isaac Mpofu competing in the Marathon race, Chengetayi Mapaya in triple jump and Tinotenda Matiyenga in 200m.
Giving an overview of Team Zimbabwe at the World Championships, Phakamile Lisimati, the National Athletics Association of Zimbabwe (Naaz) director for coaching, talent identification and development, who travelled as the head coach, said he is confident that the trio will do better in Budapest.
In Oregon, Mpofu put up a stellar performance to finish in the top 10 of the men’s marathon and in the process shatter Zimbabwe’s eight-year record.
Mpofu ran a time of 2 hours 7 minutes 57 seconds at the World Championships to beat the previous national record that stood at 2 hours 9 minutes 52 seconds which was set by Cuthbert Nyasango in 2014.
Not only did Mpofu set a new national record, he also qualified for the Budapest competition whose qualifying time is 2 hours 9 minutes.
That Mpofu was in the leading perk for the better part of the race at Oregon, losing out on sprints in the last 2km of the race gives Naaz hope that with adequate preparations, he can do better at next year’s meet.
“Mpofu’s performance was impressive and motivating. It was a good sign and an indication that more is coming from the young man. He did manage to qualify for the next World Championships in Budapest next year by running ahead of the qualifying time,” said Lisimati.
He described the exit of Mapaya in the qualification round as shocking as they were anticipating that the US-based athlete would compete for a podium place.
Mapaya went for the championships ranked sixth in the world after posting a 17,26m jump at the NCCA Nationals held a fortnight before the start of the World Championships.
The Zimbabwean jumper had set his personal best at the World Championships venue hence Naaz expected he was going to do well.
Mapaya fouled twice in his qualification round and with pressure, anxiety taking toll, the country’s medal hopeful collapsed and failed to progress to the next stage of the competition.
“I should say Chengetayi was our trump card, we had pinned our hopes on him given he was ranked sixth. It was very positive and promising that he was going to be on the podium but unfortunately it was not to be. It was a sudden shock exit from the games which was a disappointment to the team .We accepted the result as such things happen in our sport.” said Lisimati.
He however said there is still hope that Mpapaya will in future bring home a medal at the next World Championships.
“We are confident because he’s a courageous guy, one guy who was able to accept the performance of the final results of the game and move on,” Lisimati said.
He said Mapaya is already preparing with the aim of breaking a national record, qualify to the next World Championships on his way to the 2024 Olympics in Paris.
On Matiyenga, Lisimati said: “He was a newcomer at the world stage, his first assignment and first competition as a senior for the country. He last participated at the Africa Junior Championships in 2018 where he got a gold medal.
“The World Championships were a very big stage for him coming up in a preliminary heat with some of the world’s fastest guys and unfortunately he didn’t manage to pull through as he finished sixth in a time of 20,72 seconds.
“What excites us is that his qualification came via an invitation based on his rankings. This is an indication we’ve got a top athlete, a top sprinter in the country. From here, with experience, Tino should focus on qualifying for Budapest.”
Lisimati said there are a lot of positives picked from the World Championships.
He believes Mpofu can challenge for a top five place at the next edition and is confident that if Mapaya gets his composure, keeps on fighting for his jumps, he can move two places up the world rankings and challenge for silverware.
“The guys have learnt crossing the t’s, dotting the i’s and that small basics in sport are taken care of and important in every event. This will help them come back stronger and avoid school boy blunders.
“We’re backing these guys. Isaac had been in camp since August last year. As Naaz we seek to continue in the process of bringing more athletes, both male and female. We want to take a full squad complement for the marathon to the World Championships. A squad of three males and three females,” said Lisimati.
He revealed that Naaz is already working on a road map towards qualifying for Budapest. The roadmap includes athletes’ training camps and competitions that they will compete at.
Lisimati feels Naaz are doing their best to support and avail opportunities for athletes to perform.
“It’s our duty and priority to provide athletics services to athletes, the training camps, competitions, travelling and all other services so that athletes perform better. We’re working flat-out to try and assist these athletes,” he said.
Some of the athletes that Naaz hopes can qualify for the World Championships include Wellington Varevi, Tendai Zimuto, Moses Tarakinyu and Elijah Mabhunu who assisted Mpofu with his training.
It is in the women’s category that Naaz faces challenges of having few participants.
“We are doing all we can to make sure that we have more women competing. At junior level, there are a lot of girls but not all take up athletics at senior level. We need to try and motivate our ladies to be active in sport,” said Lisimati. — @ZililoR
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