KAFUNDA

By SHAMAOMA MUSONDA-
SPRINTER, Titus Kafunda warmed up for the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games hitting his personal best in the 100 and 200 metre races during the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) Diamond League Championship in Switzerland.
Kafunda ran an amazing 10.27 seconds in the 100 metres which was his best time this year and also the best time seen in Switzerland this year.
The 10.27 seconds record set by Kafunda comes 10 days before the Commonwealth Games gets underway in Scotland and was also a millisecond away from his personal best time of 10.26 seconds which was good enough to qualifying him for Glasgow by European standards.
Kafunda’s impressive performance in the 100 metres, came moments after he finished second in the 200 metre race, but still came off with a time of 20.98 seconds which was his best this year and the second best in his career.
Sprint expert Ralph Mouchbahani, who is attached to Zambia Amateur Athletics Association (ZAAA) from Germany, expressed excitement at the development, saying the performance was coming days before the Club Games and in conditions identical to those in Scotland.
“This is, especially exciting because the meet has seen similar conditions as the athletes will most probably face in Glasgow. Rain and sun rallying each other at moderate temperatures of 15 degrees,” said Mouchbahani, a former Swiss, Qatar and German national coach.
Mouchbahani also showered praise for Emmanuel Mwewa, who finished third behind Kafunda in the 200 metres, recording his best time of 21.20 seconds.
He said Mwewa had made tremendous progress this year and that his performance shows that the times recorded in Lusaka were not a coincidence.
Another personal best came from Saviour Kombe who got fourth place in the 200 metres with a time of 21.29 seconds while Kabange Mupopo finished third in the women 100 metre race, posting a personal best of 23.48 seconds and would have qualified for the European championships.
Other athletes who competed at the competition were Cephas Nyimbili in the 800 metres and Yvonne Nalishuwa in the 200 metres.
ZAAA president, Elias Mpondela said the team was on course and looking forward to the last competition in Lucerne in their preparation, before heading for a recovery week to Frankfurt and then on July 25 to Glasgow for the Games.