Young Zimbabwean sprinter, Tinashe Mutanga was the toast of the local athletes at the just ended 10th African Junior Athletics Championships in Gaborone, Botswana where he won three silver medals.
The reigning junior sportsperson of the year scooped two silver medals in the 100m and 200m events before combining with other local athletes to win another silver medal in the 4x100m relay.
Mutanga’s first medal came in the 100m, where he clocked 10,68sec to finish second behind South Africa’s Gideon Trotter, while his compatriot Emilee Erasmus came third in 10,70sec.
The young sprinter had set a personal-best time of 10,41sec, which was the fastest qualifying time and had he reproduced that performance he could have easily scooped the gold medal.
Mutanga came back with another impressive performance in the 4x100m relay by combining with Zuva Bvekerwa, Abdul Simbili and Dumisani Bhebhe to win another silver medal.
The Nigerian relay team scooped the gold medal after coming first in 40,98sec with Zimbabwe in second place in a time of 41,66sec while the Mauritian team won the bronze medal.
Mutanga completed a hat-trick of silver medals in the 200m where he again came second in a time of 20,99sec behind South Africa’s Siphelo Mgqabaza who stopped the clock in 20,94sec while Nigeria’s Jonathan Mamju settled for a bronze medal in 21,58sec.
The three silver medals by Mutanga ensured Zimbabwe finished a respectable 12th on the medal standings, with South Africa finishing first with an impressive 34 medals, 13 gold, 13 silver and eight bronze medals.
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In some of the performances of local athletes Cathrine Makaya finished eighth out of eleven competitors in the women’s triple jump with a best jump of 11,61 sec.
Middle-distance runner Thandiwe Nyathi came a decent fifth in the women’s 3 000m race to stop the time in 9:59,24 minutes behind the Ethiopian winner Hugos Gebru who came home in 9:11,84 minutes in a race dominated by Kenyans and Ethiopians.
Female sprinter Cara Tom could only manage to reach the semi-finals of the women’s 100m but later combined with Tabeth Gwebu, Ireen Ndoreka and Cathrine Makaya to finish fifth in the 4x100m event.
Middle-distance runner Faith Goremusandu who represented Zimbabwe at the Youth Olympics last year had a disappointing run in Botswana. She finished seventh in the women’s 800m, eighth in the 1 500m and fifth in the Women’s 3 000m final.
The biennial continental athletics meet took place from Wednesday to Sunday at University of Botswana stadium and was reserved for athletes under the age of 20.
More than 2 000 athletes from 30 African countries descended on the Botswana capital for the event. The Zimbabwe team arrived back home on Monday.
Meanwhile, seasoned US Zimbabwean sprinter Brian Dzingai finished a disappointing sixth in the men’s 200m at the Ponce Grand Prix at the Franciso Montaner Stadium in Ponce, Puerto Rico on Saturday night.
The 30-year-old 200m specialist, who faces an uphill task to qualify for the London Olympic Games next year stopped the clock in a time of 21,02sec.
Rondell Sorillo of Trinidad and Tobago won the race in 20,46sec to finish ahead of an outstanding field including 2009 World championships silver medallist Alonso Edwards of Panama (20,60sec) and Sorillo’s compatriot Keston Bledman (20,91 sec).
