Harare strikes gold at NAAZ meet
HARARE province lived up to expectations yesterday when they emerged winners of the National Athletics Association of Zimbabwe Inter-provincial track and field championships at the National Sports Stadium B Arena.
The two-day event saw all provinces competing and Harare got 57 medals, including 23 gold, to come out tops.
The hosts, with 65 athletes, went into the event eyeing the top spot and they just did that when they dominated most of the events, including the seniors and juniors relay events.
Emerging star Ngoni Makusha picked gold medals in the 100m and 200m.
Harare province coaches coordinator, Collen Makaza, was pleased with the performance and attributed their victory to team work.
“We had to divide our coaching team. I was specialising in middle distances while we had other coaches working on sprints, off an opponent, having previously been in an offside position. Confusing? In a way yes! Malawian football agent Felix Sapao, who watched the match on television, said the Cameroonian wasn’t offside.
“I watched the Bosso vs DeMbare match on TV. The assistant ref was right,’’ he said.
“If a ball is touched by the defending team last and then taken by an offensive player who was offside, it’s not offside. You see that the ball clearly came off a defensive player who was attempting to clear a shot at goal.
“That touch by the defensive player puts the offensive scorer onside although he was initially in an offside position. Even if the offensive player was initially in an offside position. When the shot was taken, the defender’s touch jumps and throws to prepare our team.
“I am happy we came first. We fielded athletes in every event from throws, sprints, middle-distances and jumps. I think our team was the best. We had the advantage of being home and other teams I think they were affected by travelling,” said Makaza. The seasoned long-distance runner said they are now looking forward to the JM Busha triangular series final on May 25 and the Southern Region championships in June.
In second place was Bulawayo with 15 medals and having fielded 15 athletes only, Bulawayo Athletics Board chairperson Manuel Mpofu expressed satisfaction with the outcome.
“The main idea was to bring our athletes here not to defend the championship but to make sure that they qualify for certain events. And I believe today most of my athletes from Bulawayo they made a mark.
“The athletes themselves were posting good times especially 100m, I enjoyed (watching) Ngoni Makusha and Itai Vambe (Harare) and there is Nigel Tom (Bulawayo) he posted good time as well. So really the competition was superb,” said Mpofu.
Masvingo came third with nine medals and Mashonaland West with 19 medals were beaten to fourth position because they had few gold medals.
Mashonaland Central and Matabeleland North were fifth and sixth respectively while on seventh place was Mashonaland East. Manicaland came eighth, followed by Midlands and Matabeleland South finished on the bottom.
The national association were using the meet as the final selection event for the Southern Region Senior championships in June as well as the African Junior championships in Algeria from June 29 to July 2.
They are also looking at the IAAF World Under-18 championships in Nairobi, Kenya, from July 12 to 16.
it’s sad that the big match had to come to such a premature end and the dominant story, this week, will not be on the players — who played their hearts out — but on events they had very little control over.
The start of the game was delayed for 15 minutes to allow thousands of fans, who were still trapped in queues outside the stadium, the chance to make their way into the ground and watch this big showdown. Although, for the better part of the week, the match had been overshadowed by CAPS United’s Champions League commitments, with the Green Machine beginning their group campaign in Egypt on Friday night, the two giants showed their pulling power with thousands of fans coming to Barbourfields. Sadly, it’s another game that will be remembered for all the wrong reasons.