adminEllina Mhlanga Sports Reporter
NATIONAL Athletics Association of Zimbabwe director of coaching, talent identification and development, Lisimati Phakamile hailed long-distance runner Rutendo Nyahora and sprinter Gabriel Mvumvure for recently attaining qualification times for the 2016 Olympic Games which are set for August in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Nyahora attained qualification for the women’s marathon when she came ninth in 2 hours 39 minutes 58 seconds in the Vienna City Marathon while United States-based sprinter Mvumvure qualified for the 100m event.
Nyahora joins the quartet of Wirimai Juwawo, Cuthbert Nyasango, Gilbert Mutandiro and Pardon Ndhlovu, who have also attained qualification times in the men’s marathon.
“It is something we have been aiming for as a national association to have many people qualifying (for the Olympic Games). We are happy we still have athletes that are qualifying and we want to congratulate the two athletes for qualifying. We hope they will perform well in Rio,” Phakamile said.
Each country can only field three athletes in each category for marathon and NAAZ are going to choose the best three according to their times. Phakamile said they are expecting more athletes to attain qualifying times for the Games.
“Currently we are looking at ladies on the track such as Olivia Chitate. We expect her to qualify. We have Tsitsi Mahachi, she is based in Mauritius, and she has been trying to qualify in the 200m and 400m events. We are hoping that they will make it for the Rio Games. They have been working hard.
“We have many athletes that are attempting to qualify. We are also looking at long jumper and sprinter Ngoni Makusha, he has been working on his performance. Rodwell Ndlovu, Nyasha Mutsetse and many other guys are on the list. We also have Gift Ngwenya, who we are expecting to make it in the track events.
“We also have middle-distance runners for 5 000m and 10 000m events.
“As of now we are targeting 10 athletes (for the Olympics). If we fail, at least eight is not bad. We already have five athletes that have qualified,” said Phakamile.
The NAAZ director of coaching said early qualification gives the athletes time to prepare for the actual Games, which will see them improving their performances.
“We hope people qualify as early as possible and have time to focus on preparing for the Games. In fact, when athletes qualify late, they do not have enough time to really prepare. We have five athletes that have already qualified and we hope to assist to get them ready for the Games. We will be lining up a number of programmes and competitions that will help them fine-tune their performances. We will help send some of them for various competitions,” Phakamile said.
Meanwhile, NAAZ will host a track and field event the National Sports Stadium’s B Arena on Saturday and it is open to all athletes from juniors to seniors.
The meet will serve as a qualifier for the Rio Games, the World Junior Championships and the African Union Sports Council Region Five Games.
Online Reporter