By ADRIAN MWANZA –
WORLD Youth Olympics champion Sydney Siame lost his first race in 2016 to his training partners during the Zambia Amateur Athletics Association (ZAAA) All-Comers Meet competition.
Siame, who won gold at the Nanjing 2014 Youth Olympics, finished third in the 100 metres dash behind Brian Kasinda and Titus Kafunda in an exciting race held at Lusaka’s Olympic Youth Development Centre (OYDC).
Kasinda of Zambia Police took first place after clocking 10.59 seconds while Kafunda from Nchanga timed 10.67 seconds with Siame marginally beaten with a time of 10.70 seconds.
Siame’s personal best time is 10.18 seconds and is chasing a 10.16 seconds time needed to qualify to the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.
In fourth place was Quincy Malekani from Kansanshi Athletic Club in North-Western Province who timed 12.07 seconds and is being groomed as a future prospect of the sport.
African women 400 metres champion Kabange Mupopo of Green Buffaloes was an overwhelming winner in the 100 metres race where she clocked 11.49 seconds while Yvonne Nalishua from Zambia Police was second with a time of 11.76 with Rhoda Njobvu timing 11.97 to finish third.
The tournament was also used as a Talent Identification Programme (TIP) and had athletes from five provinces battling it out for honours.
ZAAA was using the All-Comers championship as part of preparations for the Olympics Games as well as local and international competitions.
National junior team coach Kezzias Nyendwa said while no records were broken by any athlete during the competition, the overall performance was impressive.