The Sunday Mail
Abel Ndooka
TRACK field star Ngoni Makusha says he is looking forward to locking horns with teammate Tatenda Tsumba when they meet today in the final for the 200m African Games qualifiers and the Qatar 2019 IAAF World Championships in Athletics.
Both athletes yesterday qualified for the final of the 200m race to be held today after they won in their respective heats at the National Sports Stadium B Arena.
Makusha won his race finishing with a time of 20.92 seconds and Tsumba finished in 20.82s.Speaking after his race Makusha said while he is looking forward to facing his teammate and brother Tsumba in the final; qualification for the African Games to be held in Morocco and the IAAF world championships in Qatar remain the main objective.“Tsumba is my teammate, we have faced off so many times before, and I have won all the races.
“That said, I am indeed looking forward to facing him in the final.
“I had a good day in office (yesterday) though we failed to start by the time we were supposed to start, so by the time I ran I was already tired after a long warm-up,” he said.Tsumba, who was relaxed after his race preparing for the 100m qualifying heats, said he had a good day and was looking forward to the final today, targeting to beat his personal best time.
“There was huge competition but I managed to stay focused and won, so I am looking forward to the final. I just want to get the job done tomorrow (today),” he said.
So far three athletes have qualified for the African games and IAAF world Championships, namely long distance runners Rutendo Nyahora and Munyaradzi Jari who both qualified on Friday and triple jumper Chengetai Mapaya.
Jari won the man’s marathon finishing his race in two hours 14 mins whilst Nyahora finished the female’s race in race in two hours 34 minutes.
National Athletics Association of Zimbabwe president, Tendai Tagara said he was happy with the talent he is seeing and hopes Team Zimbabwe will lift the country’s flag high in Morocco and Qatar.
“There’s a good crop of athletes we are seeing here and we believe we have a big chance of doing well in Morocco and Qatar.
“We wish all the athletes the best who qualified for the finals which will be held tomorrow (today),” he said.
Action continues today at the NSS where the finals will take place in different track and field’s events such as long jump, 100m and 200m sprint race, javelin and discus.
