Zimbabwe bows out of World Athletics Championships

24 Jul, 2022 - 00:07 0 Views
Zimbabwe bows out of World Athletics Championships Triple jumper Chengetayi Mapaya

The Sunday News

Phineas Mukwazo, Sunday News Correspondent
ZIMBABWE bowed out of the World Championships in Athletics in Eugene, Oregon in the United States on Thursday with a disappointing outing.

World Championships in Athletics in Eugene, Oregon

 

Triple jumper Chengetayi Mapaya from whom a lot was expected, failed to live up to expectations.

Zimbabwe sent three athletes to the showcase comprising Mapaya, marathon runner Isaac Mpofu, and sprinter Tinotenda Mapaya.

However, a lot hinged on the 23-year-old Mapaya, who booked his berth at the World Championships when winning the National Collegiate Athletics Association national championships in the US with an encouraging leap of 17,26 metres. Mapaya also went to Oregon ranked sixth in the world.

However, on Thursday Mapaya failed to make it to the finals at first attempt due to “technical aspects that came his way.”
“ Chenge, whom we had a lot of expectations from unfortunately for him due to a number of technical aspects failed to sail through from the qualifying rounds to the finals.

Pakamile Lisimati

He had two failed attempts in a three chance trial for him to qualify for the final,” said coach Pakamile Lisimati, from the US on Friday.

Earlier marathon runner Mpofu had a relatively good outing when coming home in a credible 10th position clocking 2hours, 7 minutes and 57 seconds in the gruelling event.

It was a record breaking feat as he smashed Cuthbert Nyasango’s eight-year record of 2hrs, 9 minutes and 52 seconds achieved on 11 May 2014 in Praha, Czech Republic.

It was, however, a baptism of fire for young sprinter Matiyenga, who was dismissed in the 200 metres heats when coming home in 20,72 seconds.

“It was quite an experience for the young man and a very huge learning curve.

Tino is actually quite happy about his performance, he learnt a lot, he is impressed and eager to return to the next world champs next year.

A number of lessons have been learnt from these championships especially for the young boy as far as elite and high level championships are concerned,’’ said Lisimati.

It is back to the drawing board for Team Zimbabwe, and Lisimati was overly optimistic about what lies ahead
“Looking at the performance of our team, we are not giving up, we are basically saying we will start from here.

We need to improve on a number of situations, track performances looking at technical challenges that we came across at the jumps and also in the marathon field.

We should keep our heads up, come back a better team next year in Budapest.

Finally I want to commend the athletes that came here for the spirited performance, for the high morale, and the support they gave each other as we progressed and competed during the games,”said Lisimati.

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