Chronicle Editor
Ricky Zililo, Senior Sports Reporter
ZIMBABWE’S junior track and field athletes still hoping to qualify for the World Junior Championships to be staged in Kenya in August are set to travel to Botswana to try their luck in the neighbouring country’s last race before the Tokyo Olympic Games’ deadline.
The qualification deadline for the rescheduled Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games is June 30 and most nations will this weekend stage their last competitions in a final push for their athletes to try and qualify for the global sporting showpiece.
Zimbabwe’s 4x100m men’s relay team has been given another chance to try and qualify for the Games after getting an invitation to participate in the MoC Relays in Lagos, Nigeria, this coming weekend.
The National Athletics Association of Zimbabwe (Naaz) has applied to the Sports and Recreation Commission for clearance to send the relay team to Nigeria and junior athletes keen on qualifying for World Junior Championships to participate in events set for Botswana and South Africa.
Lisimathi Phakamile, Naaz national director of coaching and talent identification development, said Zimbabwe has the potential to send more athletes to the World Junior Championships.
Only two sprinters, Clinton Muunga from Matabeleland South and Samukeliso Ndebele from Matabeleland North, have qualified for the World Junior Championships.
Muunga and Ndebele qualified for the global juniors’ competition in the Naaz national championships held in Harare last month.
Muunga qualified for both the 100m and 200m races after completing the two races in 10.46 seconds and 21.21 seconds respectively. The qualifying time for the junior men is 10.58 seconds for 100m and 21.38 seconds for 200m.
Ndebele qualified for the women’s 200m World Junior Championships finals after registering 23.30 seconds in the Naaz national finals. The standard qualifying time for the competition is 24.35 seconds
“There are some athletes who want to try qualifying for the World Junior Championships at the weekend races set for Botswana and South Africa this weekend. These junior athletes are going as individuals and will fund their own trips. The Botswana race is set for Francistown and a number of athletes will use it for a final push to the Olympics. Our men’s relay team is heading to Nigeria,” said Phakamile.
The junior athletes are travelling to Botswana and South Africa after Naaz indefinitely postponed a training camp for aspiring World Junior Championships athletes due to Covid-19 restrictions that ban any form of gathering, except funerals.
Naaz had arranged for national team coaches to train selected junior athletes in a camp that was supposed to run for at least a week before qualification races. — @ZililoR
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