…as Njobvu is knocked out of World Athletics Championship games
By MICHAEL MIYOBA
ZAMBIA’S hopes of minting a medal at the ongoing World Athletics Championship games in Budapest, Hungary suffered a major blow after sprinter Rhoda Njobvu was knocked out of the competition.
Njobvu, who holds the record for being Zambia’s fastest woman with over 10 medals to her name finished seventh in heat 6 which had some of the best sprinters in the world.
Njobvu secured Gold at the ASA Athletics Grand Prix continental tour challenge in South Africa this year and minted silver at the 2023 Heino Lipp Memorial in Estonia.
However, her time of 23.82 seconds was not enough to secure qualification to the next round at the championships in Budapest as British sprinter Dina Asher-Smith, Ivory Coast’s Maboundou Kone and USA Keyla White progressed to the semifinals after claiming first second and third positions respectively.
Asher-Smith sprinted to 22.46 seconds, nine seconds better than Kone while White qualified to the semifinals with a time of 22.62 seconds.
Italian sprinter, Dalla Kaddari, Poland’s Krystine Tsimanouskaya and Japan’s Remi Tsuruta where knocked out after claiming fourth, fifth and sixth positions respectively.
Njobvu only managed to finish ahead of Brazilian sprinter Vitoria, Christina Rosa who finished the race with 23.86 seconds.
Njobvu was Zambia’s only representative at the games in Budapest after Commonwealth Gold Medalist Muzala Samukonga was ruled out of a week before the games kicked off as he was still nursing an injury.
United Kingdom Physiotherapist O’brien Robertson ruled out Zambia’s sprinting sensation after conducting an assessment.
Zambia Athletics General Secretary Davison Mungambata said Dr. Robertson assessed Muzala and recommended that the athlete needs two to three weeks to recover fully.
Mungambata said the physiotherapist said the outcome of the strength assessment revealed that Muzala’s left leg is weaker than the right leg.
The week-long World Athletics Championship which is the second-high level championships for athletes will run up to August 27.
