‘Gwidzima example of country’s potential’

SPORTS and Recreation Commission (SRC) acting director-general Joseph Muchechetere has said the country needs to fund traditionally underfunded sporting disciplines in order to harness untapped talent.

Muchechetere said this while congratulating Ryan Gwidzima for winning the Plate final Squash tournament held in the United States of America early this week.

Gwidzima topped his age group and secured 17th position overall out of 128 players.

“This is an amazing and phenomenal achievement at a world level. What amazed us all and sundry was that Gwidzima arrived in the USA on Sunday and on Monday he was already on the court where he managed to dispense with his opponents thus reaching the finals of the US Open Plate finals. This can only be an early Christmas present for all of us which we must celebrate,” said Muchechetere.

“Ryan’s achievement is a demonstration that Zimbabwe has the talent and pedigree to withstand any form of competition at any level. It is in this light that we need to ensure that we retain such talent and nurture it further for the good of squash and sport in general. We can only retain such talent if we deliberately invest in the technical training and financially support such athletes as a nation.

“Many times we end up losing such talented athletes to other nations in other sporting disciplines owing to our inability to support them. This is an Achilles heel that we must address head on as a nation, as we try and harness and hone the sporting talent that we have so that we may leave a lasting impression on the sporting arena.” — @skhumoyo2000