Another gold for Simwaka

Blossoming Malawian female athlete Asimenye Simwaka on Sunday won another gold in 200 metres (m) at the Cameroon National Championship which attracted the cream of the continent.

To add extra spice, she also broke the national record by clocking 23:46 seconds, of 23:74 seconds.

Her feat yesterday came barely 24 hours after she also won gold in 400m at the same event in which she clocked 52:57 seconds.

Sadly though, the 22-year-old athlete missed her target of becoming the first Malawian athlete to qualify for Olympics on merit by 46 milliseconds.

Coach Pachisi Nyasulu was all praises for the athlete, saying: “Just like yesterday [Saturday], it was a great performance from Asimenye, she did very well.

“Unfortunately, she has missed qualification by 46 milliseconds. But all is not lost as there are reports that there will be another qualification tournament in Nigeria before June 29th, which is the cut-off point for qualifiers and we are keeping our fingers crossed.”

On her part, Simwaka said she is disappointed not to have qualified for Olympics.

“I hope I can have one more chance. I have not given up hope yet, I will remain positive.

“Otherwise, the solace is that I won gold twice which was not an easy feat considering that I was competing with the best on the continent,” said the athlete who doubles as a women’s national football team player.

In March this year, Simwaka and male athlete Stern Lifa made history by becoming the first local athletes to qualify for Africa National Championships on merit.

Malawi Olympic Committee president Jappie Mhango yesterday said Simwaka has a bright future.

“If she won’t qualify for Olympics, then she will definitely make it to Commonwealth Games. I have no doubt about that,” he said.