Nyahora makes NAAZ proud

NATIONAL Athletics Association of Zimbabwe (NAAZ) president Tendai Tagara has praised long-distance runner Rutendo Nyahora who has become the latest local athlete to make the grade for the Olympics.

Nyahora joins fellow distance Isaac Mpofu, sprinter Tapiwa Makarawu, and rower Steve Cox on Team Zimbabwe for the Paris Games slated for July 26-August 11.

“These are exciting times for us as an association, and Rutendo (Nyahora) has made us very proud,” said Tagara.

“She has been working hard on her times and we expected her to qualify earlier this year in Angola.

“Unfortunately, there was a miscalculation with her pacesetters and, as such, she narrowly missed the qualification times back then.

“Still, she kept at it and you could see her gradual improvement in every race that she has run for the last couple of months,” he said. After having missed the qualification times, following the lapsing of the deadline on April 30, Nyahora’s consistent performances saw her enter the wildcard bracket where she was ranked among the top female 20 long-distance runners that received wildcard entries.

The 35-year-old had been amongst the athletes NAAZ had been eyeing to make the grade alongside sprinters Makanakaishe Charamba, Takudzaishe Chiyangwa, and triple jumper champion Chengetayi Mapaya.

“I knew that Nyahora would qualify, given her consistent times and the hard work she has been putting in.

“We don’t, however, expect her to be the last athlete,” said the NAAZ boss.

“The duo of Chiyangwa and Charamba, both based in the United States of America, are doing very well and are very close to their qualification times.

“There are a couple of meets coming up in the next week or two, and we will be closely monitoring their progress.

“Mapaya is another hopeful, but he is a special case.

“The triple jumper has been battling with injury and we have given him until the end of the month to give us an update on his recovery and status.

“Mapaya, as you will remember, qualified for the last Olympics before injury robbed him of the chance to grace the Tokyo Games.

“When fit, he remains one of our qualification and medal hopefuls.

Mpofu, Makawaru and now Nyahora qualifying for the Games has already seen NAAZ over-achieve as compared to last term where only Mapaya made the grade.

Tagara, however, has set his sights on sending at least four or five athletes, this time around.

“We are already ahead of the curve as compared to the other sports codes in the country but we still hope to get one or two more athletes also qualifying.

“The target we set out to achieve was to have at least four or five athletes qualifying, and it is still possible.