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Ellina Mhlanga Sports Reporter
ZIMBABWE’s sprinter Tatenda Tsumba failed to progress to the semi-finals of the on-going IAAF World Championships 200m men’s event when he came seventh in 21.21seconds in the second heat on Tuesday in Beijing, China.

Tsumba and female long distance runner Olivia Chitate were one of the two remaining Zimbabweans in the athletics championships after the trio of Cutberth Nyasango, Cephas Pasipamire and Gilbert Mutandiro found the going tough and failed to make it into the top 20 in marathon.

And it was the same disappointing story again on Tuesday when the competition proved to be tough for Tsumba as he finished a distant seventh and could not qualify for the semi-finals that were scheduled for late yesterday.

The heat was won by Alonso Edward of Panama in 20.11seconds followed by Netherlands’ Churandy Martina with a time of 20.22s.

France’s Christophe Lemaitre came third in 20.29 seconds.

With Tusmba’s interests in the Championships ending at the semi-final stage, Chitate is now the only remaining athlete to compete in the women’ 5 000m on Sunday.

For marathon the top 20 athletes qualifies for the Olympic Games to be held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil next year.

However, the three Athletes found the competition tough with Nyasango emerging the best Zimbabwean athlete when he settled for 23rd in 2hours 22 minutes 15 seconds while Pasipamire came 30th in 2 hours 25 minutes 5 seconds. Mutandiro finished 37th in 2 hours 31 minutes 35 seconds.

Nyasango, who qualified for the championships with a time of 2hours 9minutes 52seconds could not surpass his qualification time as did Pasipamire, who booked his place at the championships in a time of 2 hours 14 minutes 40 seconds.