DIANA MUTAKAFIMBO, Lusaka
THE International Athletics Associations Federation (IAAF) has approved the candidature of Zambia Amateur Athletics Association (ZAAA) president Elias Mpondela to contest as a member of the women’s committee during the elective congress scheduled for Beijing in August this year.
ZAAA international relations and communications manager Davison Mung’ambata said in a statement yesterday that Mpondela was nominated by both the regional and continental athletics bodies.
Mung’ambata said the decision by the Confederation of African Athletics Southern Region (CAASR) and the Confederation of African Athletics (CAA) was made during the African congress in Addis Ababa in March this year pending IAAF’s approval.
“The IAAF has now approved the nomination of Mr Mpondela and adopted him to contest for the position,” Mung’ambata said.
Mpondela is among 26 other contestants fighting for eight positions in the IAAF women’s committee.
The committee has two positions for men and five contestants will battle it out.
The other four male members are Sudan’s Moustafa El Abbadi, Ioannis Koutsogiannapoulos from Greece, Denmark’s Yakob Larsen and Dennis Marshall from Bahamas.
And Mpondela is happy his nomination has been approved and is confident of scooping the position.
He said in Lusaka yesterday that getting into the IAAF has been a long-time strategy aimed at elevating Zambia at a global level.
Mpondela, who boasted of support from Africa and the United Arab Emirates, said it is time Zambia contributed to the development of athletics at a global level.