Diara could miss out on representing Zimbabwe in Spain

Zimbabwe junior athlete, Dumisani "Diara" Bhebhe could miss out on representing the country in Spain in the World Junior Championships as his name is not on the official list of participating  athletes.

Instead, Midlands runner,  Sithulisiwe Zhou appears on the list though she did not travel.

The competition begins today and ends on the 15th.

According to the official tournament website only one Zimbabwe athlete is listed from 179 countries.

The website says Zhou was entered for 1500 Metres and 3000 metres with her qualified times as 4:27.9 (personal best) ,  4:27.9 (season best) and  4:27.9 as qualifying best and (9:34.6 personal best) , 9:34.6  (season best)  and 9:34.6 as qualifying best respectively.

Bhebhe arrived on Sunday to compete in the 100 and 200 metres races.

National Athletics Association of Zimbabwe president, Joseph Mugwari was not available for comment on Tuesday morning  to clarify if Bhebhe was entered or not.

His phone went unanswered.

But sources say, two weeks ago there effects to block the Gwanda athlete from traveling as it was claimed by some association members that “he lacks capacity to raise the air ticket”.

The Gwanda community contributed to the $1700 air ticket as the association said it cannot afford it.

A total of 1742 athletes entered (964 men and 778 women). The most attended edition was Beijing 2006 where 176 countries gathered in the Chinese capital, followed by Annecy 1998 with 170 countries.

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