Zim 2nd at regional meet
ZIMBABWE’S athletes at the justended CAA Under-18 and Under-20 Southern Regional championships in South Africa made their presence felt when they scooped 19 medals at the meet in Johannesburg, South Africa.
The two-day regional competition, which ended on Saturday, featured 10 countries but the hosts had two teams competing.
Zimbabwe fielded 34 athletes and got two gold medals, three silver and 14 bronze to finish second behind South Africa while Botswana, who were also favourites in this competition, were third. The gold medals came from Denis Gono in 10 000m and Brian Ndlovu in high jump.
They also had two juniors, Dickson Kapandura and Norman Mukwada, qualifying for the World Under-20 championships scheduled for Finland in July. Kapandura made the grade in 200m while Mukwada qualified for 400m hurdles.
Head of technical for the team, Briad Nhubu, hailed the athletes for their efforts. “Generally, we can say we had prepared for the challenge although we were outclassed by our main contenders, South Africa. But, as for the rest of the countries in the region, we outclassed them.
“We managed to qualify (for World championships), Dickson Kapandura from Matabeleland North. He qualified with a time of 21.11seconds, way above the qualifying time of 21.35seconds.
“Then we also have Norman Mukwada in 400m hurdles. He is from Mutare but I train him at Sadzaguru Athletics club. His time was 51.65seconds and the qualifying time is 53seconds. So he is also well above the qualifying time.
“I think it was a good representation, the performance we had from the team and we really want to appreciate the support we are getting from our stakeholders,” said Nhubu.
On athletes that qualified for the World championships Nhubu said they need to maintain the momentum now that they are going for a tougher competition.
“We feel they displayed good times that can be an indicator of them pushing to semis or even better (at the World championships).
“However, they need to keep the momentum and fitness level they have currently and probably to work on their shortfalls that may be inhibiting them from reaching their best performance because the level they are going is a bit tough.
“We need to keep them in shape and we intend to keep them attending competitions that are there. Also as a national association we are preparing a plan so that they can fine-tune their technical and tactical aspects for the individual events,” said Nhubu.
For those that were close to meeting the qualifying standards, Nhubu said they still have an invitational meet in Botswana and national inter-provincial championships in May to try their luck.