Zambian long distance runner Tonny Wamulwa upgraded at the weekend his credential for Beijing Olympic Games, beating the qualifying time in a championship in Spain, according to Times of Zambia.

Wamulwa, who had earlier earned his ticket to Beijing as a wild card entry, finally qualified after a shining performance at the Spain Grand Prix in his speciality, the 5,000 meters category.

According to results released by an excited National Olympic Committee (NOC) secretary general Hezel kennedy in Kitwe of Copperbelt province of Zambia on Tuesday Wamulwa, presently on a high performance camp in Kenya, clocked 13 minutes and 25.54 seconds and clearly beat the Olympic qualifying time of 15:28.00. "This is pretty exciting and a plus for Zambia because it means we are sending more competent athletes to the Olympic, athletes just as competent as anyone else there." she said. Zambia has six athletes going into the Olympic, four of them have already deservedly qualified while the other two both swimmers would be going there on a wild card entry.

According to kennedy, Wamulwa was on a circuit in Europe and after excelling at a race in Turin, where he came first in the 3,000 meters, he was flown to Avellino, Spain where he bettered his previous time in the 5,000-meters and eventually qualified to the Olympic.

"This is great and means that for the first time in a very long time, there will be no wild cards in athletics this year. A definite plus for the efforts of the NOC-IOC scholarship program," she said.

(Xinhua News Agency June 19, 2008)