The Sunday Mail
Lawson Madzivanyika
ATHLETE Rutendo Chimbaru’s World Junior Championship dream has turned into a nightmare amid revelations that the IAAF does not recognise her “qualification time.”
The Arundel High School student appeared to be on her way to Poland after beating the 400 meters qualification time of 55:25 seconds during a recent meet in Mutare.
Chimbaru clocked 55:06 seconds and everyone believed she had qualified for next month’s world showcase.
However, National Athletics Association of Zimbabwe president Tendai Tagara last week revealed that Chimbaru had fallen victim to a technicality.
“If you remember well during that meeting in Mutare we used an electronic timer for some events, including the race won by Rutendo, but stopped doing so later after it rained and the timing machine malfunctioned.
“Unfortunately IAAF rules stipulate that all events at a meet must be electronically timed for them to be recognised and as such Rutendo’s efforts in Mutare are not enough to take her to Poland,” he said.
Tagara insists there is still time for Chimbaru, who could not be reached for comment, to seal her qualification.
“This is an unfortunate development but it’s not the end of the world,” he said.
“Rutendo is part of a team that we will be sending to Zambia for the Southern Region championships later this month and that competition gives her another chance to qualify for the junior championships.
“The competition will be stiff but we are hopeful that she will replicate the form she showed in Mutare.”
The Naaz president disclosed that they will only submit their final list for the junior world championships to the IAAF at the start of July.
Traditionally athletes used to travel to countries such as South Africa and Zambia attain qualification times for international tournaments as the country did not have a mobile electronic timer.
However, Naaz recently acquired a state of the art mobile electronic timing machine with the assistance of the US embassy.
