RISING triple jumper, Chengetai Mapaya was the toast of the Zimbabwean athletes at the African Junior Athletics Championships, which ended in Algeria last night after shattering several records on his way to a memorable gold medal on Saturday.
BY DANIEL NHAKANISO
The St George’s College student jumped a personal best mark of 16,30 metres, breaking the African Junior Athletics Championships record of 16,16 metres set by Ali Bouguesba of Algeria in 2009.
Mapaya also broke his own national record of 16,01 metres he set on his way to another gold medal at the Southern Region Senior Track and Field Championships held last month at the National Sports Stadium.
His mark in the Algerian city of Tlemcen was short of the long standing African junior triple jump record of 16,96 metres set by South Africa’s Olympic silver medallist, Godfrey Khotso Mokoena in Bloemfontein, South Africa, in April 2004.
Mapaya, who had earlier jumped 16,26 metres on his second attempt before going further in his fifth attempt, finished comfortably ahead of Ethiopia’s Adir Gur Ochalla, who claimed the silver medal with a best leap of 15,65 metres.
Morroco’s Soufiane Zakour claimed the bronze medal with a best jump of 15,13 metres.
Mapaya’s impressive performance capped off a memorable campaign for Zimbabwe, who until yesterday had won five medals, – three gold, two silver and bronze medals – ahead of the final day last night.
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Cabri Mgbemena claimed the gold medal in the girls 100m on Friday in a time on 12,08 seconds, while the boys’ 4x100m relay team of Dickson Kapandura, Tinotenda Matiyenga, Donovan Mutariswa and Kundai Maguranyanga were also victorious in a time of 40,64 seconds.
The victory in the relay took Matinyenga’s tally to two medals, as he had on Friday won a silver medal in the 100m, with a time of 10,5 seconds with Nomatter Kafudzaruma also managing a bronze medal in the girls’ 400m race.
Zimbabwe’s success in the relays continued on Saturday with the girls’ 4x100m relay team comprising of Alice Agostino, Gabri Mgbemena, Kudzai Nyachiya and Masciline Watama finishing second behind hosts Algeria in 51,19 seconds to claim the silver medal.
