By NDINAWE SIMPELWE – ZAMBIA’s sprinting trio of Brian Kasinda, Titus Mukhala and Hazemba Chindmba has won their respective heats at the Athletics Gauteng North (AGN) Series in South Africa in the 100 meters races. The three were the only Zambians who took part in the series and came out first in their respective heats. According to the results released by Zambia Amateur Athletics Association (ZAAA) president Elias Mpondela, Kasinda posted the fastest time among the three Zambian winners with a time of 10:43 seconds. Mukhala’s time was also impressive after clocking 10:64 seconds while Hazemba finished with a time of 10:76 seconds. Mpondela said the performance of the three sprinters was a positive display and gave the association hope that they will qualify to the Olympics. The Olympics qualifying time for 100m stands at 10.16 seconds. “The three athletes are on the borderline to qualify (to the 2016 Olympics). So this performance in Pretoria gives us a lot of hope and confidence that they will make it to the Olympics. The series is just one of our programs we are using to assess and expose the athletes but the main aim remains the Olympics,” Mpondela said. He further said what was more important is that they all won their heats individually because they were all members of the Zambia relay team together with Sydney Siame who did not take part. He said it was not easy to qualify a relay team but the association was working hard towards it. “These results are extremely important. These are the same athletes that make our relay team. So if we see this kind of performance in their individual races, we know the team will also perform well,” he said. The three will shift focus to today’s AGN Challenge as they continue their competition and assessment before returning home tomorrow. He said the races are being facilitated by the Zambian chapter of the National Olympics Committee NOC) and the High Performance Technical Centre (HPTC). Mpondela also said the trio together with other Zambian athletes are expected to compete in this weekend’s All-Comers Meet in Lusaka. He said the All-Comers Meet was also important as it also counts for the Rio qualifiers.