Kirsty Coventry on Monday morning failed to reach the final of the 100 metre backstroke.
The Zimbabwean swimming queen found the going tough against a new generation of young swimmers after she finished 11th out of 16 contestants at the Olympics Aquatics Centre in Rio de Janeiro.
The Zimbabwean could not go under one minute only managing to finish the course in one minute and 26 seconds.
The race was won by Kathleen Baker of the USA in 58. 84. 02 seconds followed by Katinka Hosszu of Hungary in 58. 94 seconds with Fu Yuanhui of China in third place after a time of 58.95 seconds.
Coventry will now take a rest as she looks forward to her best event the 200 metre backstroke where a place in the final is within reach.
The 200 metre backstroke is on Tuesday.
Still with the Olympics: The Mighty Warriors still have a glimmer of hope of qualifying to the next stage should they beat Australia in their third and final Group F qualifier tomorrow.
There are three slots reserved for the third best-placed teams and three points for the Zimbabweans off the Aussies could do the trick.
Canada lead the group with four points followed by Germany with three. Australia have one point but that will not count should they lose to the Zimbabweans.
The question is: Can the Mighty Warriors pull of a miracle?
Now to local soccer: Border Strikers produced the shock of the week if not of the season after a 2-1 win yesterday over Dynamos at Dulibadzimu Stadium.
Information coming from the border town is that the celebrations which rocked the town were as if Border Strikers had won the league title and they had every reason to celebrate to those limits.
The 2-1 win has seen bottom placed Border Strikers move to 10 points, three behind their closest Tsholotsho Pirates and coach Never Malunga is convinced they will survive relegation.
“Our chances of survival are very high. I know we are going to survive. It’s a matter of time,” said Malunga.Dynamos fans were so incensed by their team’s defeat that they turned against their coach Lloyd Mutasa, a man who only six weeks ago they were lifting shoulder high.
Dynamos have picked up only four points from a possible 15, not a healthy situation for one of Zimbabwe’s biggest football teams.
Also burning is the Highlanders house after Bosso fell to their third consecutive defeat this time 2-1 at the hands of Triangle at Gibbo Stadium.
However, there are no such worries at Caps United and FC Platinum after the two teams settled for a goalless draw in an inspiring game at the National Sports Stadium.
The Green Machine could easily have won the game had it not been for a glaring miss from veteran striker Leonard Tsipa. He missed a sitter with the team’s supporters on their feet ready to celebrate a goal.
However, it was Kugona Kunenge Kudada who dominated play from start to finish but Norman Mapeza’s side never really threatened the goal.
So, this leaves Kugona Kunenge Kudada top of the table on 37 points, two ahead of Caps United.
Caps United coach Lloyd Chitembwe says he is satisfied with his team’s play but feels the missed opportunities costed them dearly.
“You know we created a couple of chances which could have given us an advantage. But unfortunately, it was never meant to be,” said Chitembwe.
FC Platinum coach Norman Mapeza says he is happy for picking up a point away from home saying his team had come for positive results and they got them.
“We came here to get a positive result as FC Platinum and we got a positive results,” said Mapeza
Mapeza says it is too early to talk about the league title saying they would rather concentrate on grinding out good results from the field.
The other PSL results were as follows:
ZPC Kariba 0 Ngezi Platinum Stars 0
Chicken Inn 0 Chapungu 0
Bulawayo City 0 Hwange 0
How Mine 1 Harare City 0
Mutare City 3 Tsholotsho 3
Interestingly, all the four matches played on Saturday ended in goalless draws.