adminCorporate communications officer Tirivashe Nheweyembwa said he was, however, not impressed by the performance of athletes during the Paralympic and Olympic Games that were held in the United Kingdom.
He, nevertheless said the issue of resources could have had a huge impact on the performance of the athletes.
“The year 2012 was generally lukewarm particularly considering the Olympic/Paralympics Games. One would have expected that most of the athletes would have participated in the qualifiers around the world but sadly this was not to be.
“Even our team sport was not as active as one would have thought and as such it explains why we ended up with a very small team to the Olympics. Our performance at the Olympics and Paralympics was not pleasing and our athletes should have been exposed to the high performance training at some of the best facilities in the world if we were to make it at this grand stage. However, this comes back to the issue of resources to support the teams,” he said.
Nheweyembwa said he was happy with some of the achievements like national events that were successfully hosted in different cities.
“At local level we were able to host the Zimbabwe National Paralympic Games in Hwange in April, the Zimbabwe National Youth Games in Bindura in August and the chairman’s Charity Golf Day, which realised $56 000.
“Finally, the Zimbabwe National Youth Games Stakeholders Conference in Bulawayo, which made specific recommendations on how the games can be improved in the long run, the National YES Festival was successfully held in Bulawayo and I am sure important lessons were learnt on Sport Event Management ahead of the 11th edition of the Zimbabwe National Youth Games in August 2013 and we ended the year on a high note with the Annual National Sports Awards,” he said.
He also praised the successful hosting of international events in the country.
“There were other international tournaments, which were hosted in the country like the Zimbabwean Open Golf Tournament held in April in Harare and won by Nick Swanapol of South Africa and the Tiger fishing tournament in Kariba.
“I think the major highlight for the year was the signing of the protocol for the hosting of the 5th edition of the Southern Zone Youth Games in November this year with the Supreme Council for Sport in Africa Zone.
“We recently participated in the Southern Zone Youth Games in Zambia and for the first time in the history of the Games we sent the smallest teams ever, which was not the most ideal scenario and there is definite need for improvement,” he said.
Online Reporter