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Ellina Mhlanga Sports Reporter
PROMISING sprinter, Kundai Maguranyanga, says his participation at the African Games will provide him with the chance to assess his progress towards qualifying for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

The United States-based athlete is a member of the athletics team that left the country yesterday for the continental multi-sports event in Morocco.

Athletics competition roars into life on Sunday.

Maguranyanga, a 200m sprinter, joined the team in camp last Thursday.

“I am planning to go to the Olympics, God willing, if my season next year goes well.

“That will be really nice just to qualify for the Olympics. I am really close and I am only at 20.56s in the 200m.

“I am really looking forward to running fast and running like a 20.0 something, so I can qualify for the Olympics.

“Me and my coach (Ngoni) Makusha have been planning for it and we have been working towards the goal.

“It’s just that I had a few downs this past season where I blew my hamstring but now I am back which is good.

“I came back in March, in April I ran my personal best 20.5s. I feel like if I just have a really strong off-season training, and if I don’t get any injuries, I should be fine.’’

The 21-year-old said competing at the continental Games gives him an ideal platform to measure his progress.

“When I was talking to coach Makusha, he told me he want to extend my season until mid-July. Then when we got the invitation for the African Games from Zimbabwe, he said well this is our chance to actually assess where we are at towards achieving our 2020 Olympics goal.

“I have been looking at this as a really great opportunity to just go out there, do what I can do best and see where we are at.

“We live and we learn, so I am going out there to learn. But I am also going to go lay down all my guts until the final line,” said Maguranyanga.