Time for sprinters to compete in global races, says Nsengiyumva

Sprinter Justin Nsengiyumva has appealed to the athletics governing body to give chances to sprinters to represent the country at international races just like middle and long-distance runners runs for Police Athletics team, is one of three Rwandan athletes who secured provisional tickets to represent Rwanda at the 2022 African Athletics Championships after impressive performances during the National Track and Field Series’ held in Kigali last month. Should he secure the ticket, Nsengiyumva will compete at an international athletics event for the first time since he joined athletics in 2014. “Since I joined athletics, I have never seen any sprinter given a chance to compete at international races and I don’t know the reason. But for the love of athletics and patience, we don’t quit,” claimed Nsengiyumva, whose personal best now stands at 10.78 seconds in 100m. “We perform well and are committed to improve our level of performance but you can imagine that, for nine years now, I’ve got no single chance to represent my country at any international running race,” he added. The Military Games is the biggest race that the youngster participated in his career as he claims that lack of competitions at the international stage hinders him, and runners in the ‘sprint’ category, from excelling. He says that the chances given to middle and long-distance runners to compete at international races are rarely given to sprinters yet, he says, they also want to show what they can offer to the country if given the same chances. “Our fellow athletes [middle and long-distance runners] always travel to compete at international races but, unfortunately, they don’t bring medals. We also need such opportunities too. We have what it takes and we can do it,” he said “It will all depend on the federation’s will. Other athletes are supported and I think we can even do better if we get the chance,” he added. Federation speaks out Sprinters who spoke to Times Sport said a big number of them have quit the sport due to the fact that Rwanda Athletics Federation (RAF) has been too slow in finding them international competitions. However, RAF Secretary General Jean Paul Niyintunze said athletics is all about meeting the required minima. “In athletics, it’s all about ‘minima’. You must meet the minimum standards required to be able to compete at a given athletics event. We are trying to set national ‘minima’ as part of helping not only sprinters, but other runners, grow their standards so that we can produce more athletes ready to compete at international races in the future,” Niyintunze said.

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Time for sprinters to compete in global races, says Nsengiyumva