Zimbabwe’s junior athletes will have the last chance to qualify for next month’s International Association of Athletics Federations (Iaaf) World Junior Championships at the inter-provincial championships that end today in Bulawayo.
BY MICHAEL MADYIRA
The World Championships will be held in Eugene, USA from July 22 to 27. Only two athletes have qualified and the National Athletics Association of Zimbabwe (Naaz) is racing against time to reach their target of 12 athletes they intend to send to Eugene.
Middle distance runner Enrita Ncube qualified from the Cosassa Games held in Botswana in May while sprinter Michael Songore made it from last month’s Botswana inter-provincial championships.
Naaz president Tendai Tagara conceded they are pressed to have more athletes contesting in Eugene which forced the association to hire an electronic timer from Botswana needed for professional timing.
“We want to field both boys and girls relay teams in 4×100 metres and boys 4×400 metres,” said Tagara.
“We want 12 athletes because we are looking at the future. Most of these athletes are under the age of 18 and that is the future we have.”
The boys have to meet the qualifying standards of 10.55 and 21.50 seconds in 100 and 200 metres respectively, while the girls’ bar has been set at 11.90 seconds for 100 metres and 24.50 seconds for 200 metres.
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Middle-distance runners will battle to fit into the 1:50.50 minutes grade for 800 metres and 3:48.00 minutes in the 1500 metres event by the July 15 qualification deadline.
Likely to get a reprieve at the Bulawayo meet are middle distance runners Maryjoy Mudyirawanje and Tendai Zimuto who came close to qualifying when they took part in the Confederation African Athletics Southern Region junior championships last month.
Other hopes are pinned on 800 metre athlete Nyasha Mutsetse, 400 metre hurdler Pride Musinga, Yvonne Vanhuvaone and Ruvarashe Muzinde who last year competed at the World Youth Championships in Ukraine.
