By FRANCINA  CHOMBA –
ZAMBIA’S Matthew Shone brightened his chances of winning a medal at the ongoing International Federation for Swimming (FINA) World Championships in Doha, Qatar after putting up an impressive performance to finish third.
The competition that started yesterday saw Shone, who is a Zambia’s sole representative at the World Championship, finish third in the 100m break-stroke timing 1:08.49.
Corey Ollivierre of Grenada won the race clocking 1:06:62 minutes with Hemra Nurmyradoz in second place with a time of 1:07:25 minutes and Shone in third.
Shone was, however, better than Deni Baholi of Albania on 1:08:66 minutes, J’Air Smith of Antigua and Barbuda and Nikolas Sylvester of Grenada, who clocked, 1:10:34 and 1:10:48 minutes respectively.
With that finish, the Zambia swimmer is in contention for qualification to the next round where he is today scheduled to take to the pool in the 50m freestyle event.
Zambia Amateur Swimming Union (ZASU) Copperbelt region representative Sophie Shone expressed confidence that that the 21-year-old will live up to the expectations.
“We are confident that shone will bring good results as he is doing his level best to beat his opponents at the championship. The union is happy that the swimmer has fared well in his first round and we are
optimistic that he is going to excel in all of the remaining heats,” she said.
Meanwhile, a 10-member swimming team yesterday left for Zimbabwe ahead of the Africa Union Sports Commission (AUSC) Region Five Games that starts today.
The team that comprises Paljk Tilka, Ralph Goveia, Colleen Gander, Alex Axiotis, Nakawele Sakala, Kumaren Naidu,Kaisia Lewis, Mapalo Mataka, Mwaba Mulenga and Hrleena Naidu while the Adrian Sikoanga is the coach.