NAAZ target Africa championships

THE National Athletics Association of Zimbabwe are looking at giving some of their Olympics hopefuls a platform to secure passage to the Games by sending them to next month’s Africa Senior Championships in Cameroon.

The continental meet is due to take place from June 21 to 26 in Douala.

It presents another opportunity for those athletes chasing Olympic qualification to try and get the right times and standards needed for the global sports show-piece.

NAAZ president Tendayi Tagara revealed that the team for the African Championships will be made up of athletes who have huge potential and are close to qualification for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

Tagara said they had made a deliberate move to try and widen the base of Team Zimbabwe to the Games.

“Because it’s an Olympic year we are focusing on athletes that are close to qualifying for the Olympics.

“That’s what we are using, we are using Olympic qualifying standards so that we pick people who are closer to qualifying because we are taking Africa Senior Championships as the last hope for qualifying.

“We are likely to send between six to 10 athletes because we want to field a relay team, 4x100m bearing in mind that in America their season would be done, so the athletes are now available,” said Tagara.

So far NAAZ have three athletes who have secured their tickets to the Olympics and these are sprinter Tapiwa Makarawu and marathon runners Isaac Mpofu and Rutendo Nyahora.

Makarawu cut in the 200 metre event. South Africa-based Nyahora received a World Athletics universality slot in the women’s section for a marathon.

In the men’s category, Mpofu earned his qualification in 2022 after running inside the Olympic standard at the Valencia marathon in Spain.

Some of the athletes expected to make the team are United States-based Takudzwa Chiyangwa and Makarawu, who will also use the platform as part of his preparations for Paris.

“We must get one or two from America, who are willing to come . . . I am happy most of them have confirmed that they want to come.

“Makarawu has confirmed that he wants to attend Africa Senior Championships and Chiyangwa has confirmed.

“Makarawu, he is coming to polish up for his event and chase the Olympic relay.

“We still have two slots for the Olympics which are determined by ranking.

“The best-ranked teams they qualify. So, the Africa Championships are an opportunity to get that ranking,” added Tagara.

Zimbabwe did not send a team to the World Relays held recently in Bahamas.

The Bahamas race was the main Olympic qualifying event for relays.

Participating countries competed in 4x100m and 4x400m for both men and women and the mixed 4x400m.

Some of the African countries that had their teams qualifying during the competition include Botswana and South Africa.

Botswana won the men’s 4x400m relay while South Africa finished second.

Following the qualification of 14 teams per event in Bahamas, the remaining two places in each discipline will be awarded based on top lists during the qualification period — December 31, 2022, to June 30, 2024.

Tagara explained the rationale behind their decision to skip the Bahamas event

“Bahamas we didn’t send a team because we did not have athletes with good times.

“These guys in USA started to run good times but before that they had commitments.

“But now that they are free, we can get some of them.”

NAAZ will be hoping for a better outcome after athletes who competed at the African Games in Accra, Ghana missed qualification.

The African Games were another Olympics qualification platform.