Former footballers to grace Copa Coca-Cola launch
THE National Athletics Association of Zimbabwe will announce the squad for the Confederation of African Athletics Southern Region Senior Championships, which the country will host in Harare next month, after the finals of the JM Busha Open Track and Field Triangular Series set for Thursday in the capital.
The first two legs of the Open event were held in Harare and Bulawayo in February and March. Initially NAAZ were expected to name the team for the regional showcase at the inter-provincials finals in Harare last weekend.
However, on Tuesday NAAZ director of coaching and talent identification Pakamile Lisimati said his association would only come up with the names of the representative team on Thursday at the conclusion of the Busha Series.
“We now want to finalise the team at the end of the JM Busha Series finals. We identified the best 16 athletes of each event who will run in the Series again, and we will announce the team thereafter. If possible we want to enter a big team (so that), we give everyone a chance to express themselves (at the regional games),’’ said Lisimati.
The Championships, which are open to all the 14 countries in the Southern Region, will run from 10 June to 11 June.
Regional powerhouse South Africa announced a 43 member preliminary squad for the Harare meet a fortnight ago, with Athletics South Africa further confirming that they would use the event as part of that country’s preparations for both the World Junior Champs in Algeria next month and the IAAF World Championships in London in August. RETIRED footballers, Kingstone Rinemota, Biggie Zuze and Alisara Kondowe are expected to grace the official launch of this year’s edition of the prestigious Copa Coca-Cola at Rujeko High School on Wednesday.
With the commencement event being held in Mashonaland Central, the organisers saw it fit to invite those from the province who have made a name for themselves on the local football scene.
Vee Chibanda the market activation manager for Zimbabwe said they were looking forward to a much improved and captivating tournament this year.
“The 24th of May will see the Copa Coca-Cola being officially launched at Rujeko High School, we are looking forward to a much better and exciting tournament than the other,’’ said Chibanda.
Wednesday’s official launch will pave the way for the zonal fixtures on 26 May, followed by the district competitions on 9 June and the provincial finals on 7 July. The 10 provincial champions for boys and girls will then join last year’s champions as well as the host schools for the national finals in Bindura on 21 and 22 July.
Rujeko were crowned the boys champions after they beat Chinhoyi 4-1 on penalties in Gwanda where Chidyamakono won the girls competition for the fourth year in a row after they overcame Magwegwe 1-0. The schools with the privilege of being at home during the national finals are Chipindura for the boys and Herman Gmeiner for the girls.
Changes to the age group this year will see the competition being an Under-15 event for boys and girls. The move came about because the sponsors, Coca-Cola, its bottling partners in Zimbabwe, Delta Beverages and Mutare Bottling Company want to fund an age group that is recognised by Fifa.
Meanwhile, schools in Bulawayo, Midlands, Matabeleland South and North are gearing up for the fourth edition of the Orap Zenzele Chevrolet Champions Cup to be staged at Gifford on 9 and 10 June. An initiative that was a result of cooperation between Orap and Autoworld Bulawayo, the youth development project aims to use sport as a tool for development for young men and women.
Bongiwe Nkomazana, the Orap brand management assistant said through the tournament, her organisation helps youth from various communities to experience a world class event, meet young people from similar backgrounds but different communities. On top of that, the tournament promotes fair play, friendships, leadership development and it is also a platform for positive messaging to give young people important and useful information.
“The tournament is a friendly event, there are no cash prizes for winners, the emphasis is on the values being promoted by the organisers and less on monetary value. Various sponsors donate towards prizes in kind but there is a deliberate decision to not attach monetary prizes to the tournament. However, there are various trophies (including for overall winners) rewarding players in a number of categories including, best player, top goal scorer, fair play and others,’’ said Nkomazana.
In 2014, Mpopoma were the inaugural boys champions. Mzilikazi then won back to back boys titles in 2015 and 2016 while Sojini became the girls champions in 2015 and Sobukazi were the best girls school for 2016.
Matabeleland North will be represented by Mosi-OaTunya High, Fatima and Tsholotsho while Magwegwe, Gifford are standing for Bulawayo. Teams from Midlands and Matabeleland South are still to be finalised. The final line-up of schools participating in the tournament will be announced during a press conference at Gifford on 8 June.