ZAAA happy with Mupopo and Siame despite medal drought
ZAMBIA’S envoy in the on-going International Athletics Associations Federation (IAAF) World championships in Beijing, China, Mupopo Kabange and Sydney Siame have failed to get any medals ZAMBIA'S envoy in the on-going International Athletics Associations Federation (IAAF) World championships in Beijing, China, Mupopo Kabange and Sydney Siame have failed to get any medals.
Kabange Mupopo came out third in heat3 with time of 51:55s and automatically qualified to the semi-finals.
Mupopo however failed to qualify to the finals of the 400 meters women after she clocked 51 minutes 93 seconds to finish last in a tightly contested race won by the USA’s Alyson Felix.
Mupopo qualified from home and was picked to fulfil gender balance as per IAAF requirement.
Meanwhile, Zambian Olympic Youth Gold Medalist Sydney Siame equally failed to make it after featuring in the men’s’ 200 meters category.
Sydney Siame made his first appearance in qualifying heats and was honoured to run alongside Usain Bolt and clocked 21.08 seconds.
Despite the lack of medals from the competition, the Zambia Amateur Athletics Association (ZAAA) is happy with the performance of the athletes.
ZAAA president Elias Mpondela said his association and with the help from the Confederation of African Athletics (CAA) will continue to invest in the two athletes under the Carding System.
“Both athletes were identified two years ago and reaching to the IAAF World Cup in two years is incredible as it takes between 5-7 years to compete at World level and win a medal,” he said. “The future is very bright for Zambian Athletics.”
And an athletic fan Benny Dzeko congratulated the dual on their performance despite not reaping any medals.
He has since advised government to invest in the development of alternative sporting disciplines other than soccer adding that sports had the potential to bring about development in the country.
The two athletes will also represent Zambia at the All Africa games to be held in Congo Brazzaville from 4th to 19th September 2015.
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