THE Rwanda Athletics Federation has hailed the performance of upcoming athlete James Sugira who failed to go past the preliminary round in the Under-17 World Athletics Championships in Donetsk, Ukraine. The 17-year-old missed qualifying to the final by three seconds after clocking 8 minutes and 45 seconds in the 3000m.

Our only athlete (Sugira) in the youth championships was three seconds late to the qualification time for the next round and that was the end of his dream to compete in the final.

"He staged a good performance despite not reaching the final. He is a promising athlete and we believe if he continues to compete at high level, he will be a champion in future,” added Rukundo.