The Sunday News
Patrick Mushunje, Sports Reporter
NATIONAL Athletics Association of Zimbabwe Championships long jump gold medal winner Nqobizitha Mpofu has set high his athletics standards for the year 2018.
Having failed to qualify for the Youth Olympics to be hosted by Argentina in August, after recording his personal best 7,06m, Mpofu said that he aims at reaching 7,88m before the end of the year.
“I was hurt a lot when I was told that my personal best jump could not meet up with the required one to qualify for the Youth Olympics, I have been training hard for the past two years and my goal before year end is to reach 7,88m, that way I will know that I am heading in the right direction,” he said.
The athlete who is under Mosi Striders, an athletics club in Victoria Falls also said it is his dream to represent Zimbabwe at the highest stage of athletics competitions and he will not lose focus on that.
“After completing my goal of reaching 7,88m, I will then shift my focus to my dream goal that is representing Zimbabwe at the Olympics Games. I have always dreamt of representing Zimbabwe since I was young, my fellow athletes know how dedicated I am and hopefully one day I will be able to lift high the Zimbabwean flag,” said Mpofu.
He also acknowledged the hardships that come with being an athlete from Matabeleland North as they lack proper training material hence making it hard for them to reach higher levels of athletics.
“There is a lot of talent which has gone unnoticed here in Mat North and I can only put the blame on the training facilities that we have in our province. If we work together in trying to improve the condition here in Mat North, a lot of people will get recognised and start representing Zimbabwe,” he said.
Mpofu also does triple jump and managed to get a silver medal in the Naaz championships that were held in Bulawayo early last month. The athlete has a combined total of 15 national medals.
