Muvunyi starts quest for medals in Doha

Rwanda Paralympian Hermas Cliff Muvunyi and compatriot Jean Claude Ndayisaba start their bid for medals at the IPC Athletics World Championships which started yesterday and will run until October 31 at Suhaim Bin Hamad stadium in Doha, Qatar. The duo begin their campaign today hoping to scoop medals and also qualify for the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil. The reigning world champion in men’s T46 800m category Muvunyi will compete in the T46 400m and T46 1500m categories. However, the 800m has been removed from all IPC competitions. Muvunyi, won the first gold medal for Rwanda in his maiden appearance at the sixth IPC Athletics World Championships 2013 at Stade Du Rhone in Lyon, France. He stormed to victory in T46 800m running 1:54:06 to register his best personal time of his career. The 27-year-old will compete in T46 1500m final this morning before being joined by 21-year-old Ndayisenga in the T46 400m race preliminaries in the evening, looking for tickets to Friday’s final. Speaking to Times Sport from Doha on Tuesday, Muvunyi revealed they were struggling in training due to the hot weather. “The Weather is not friendly at all, it’s too hot to even train normally, we are training once a day yet we were supposed to train twice (a day). Nonetheless, we are both fit and ready for Thursday’s (today) race,” Muvunyi said. He added that, “Our objective is to win gold, but the main target is to qualify for next year’s Paralympic Games in Brazil.” Muvunyi, who holds the record of the fastest African Paralympian in T46 400m, will be seeking to register yet another milestone after winning gold medals inT46 400 and T46 800m at Grand Prix de Tunis, Tunisia in January before winning gold in 400m category last month at the 11th All Africa Games in Brazzaville. editorial@newtimes.co.rw

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Muvunyi starts quest for medals in Doha