Chronicle Editor
Ricky Zililo, Senior Sports Reporter
ATHLETES preparing for public examinations have been left out of the National Athletics Association of Zimbabwe’s (NAAZ) provisional squad that will prepare for the Africa Union Sports Council (AUSC) Region 5 Under-20 Games to be held in Lesotho in December.
NAAZ has submitted its squad to the Sports and Recreation Commission, and the association’s president Tendai Tagara said it was a risk they deliberately took by leaving out athletes preparing for examinations.
NAAZ has asked the SRC to be allowed to hold two selection events for the Under-18s in Harare and Bulawayo.
With the athletics season having ended, Tagara said only athletes whose names have been submitted to the SRC will be allowed to compete in the two events.
“We wrote to the SRC asking for clearance to hold two events, one in Harare on September 18 and the other in Bulawayo a week later. We’ve also submitted for a list of provisional athletes in accordance with the SRC requirements. The list is from our database.
“The other reason we want to have these two events is to check the state of preparedness of our young athletes as we will be sending those who are not in exam classes, meaning we won’t field a strong team. So, if we are cleared, these two events will guide the coaches on how athletes can train as individuals while working to hold a camp before leaving for Lesotho,” said Tagara.
Countries expected to participate in the Lesotho Games are the hosts, Angola, Malawi, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia, Swaziland, Mozambique and Zimbabwe.— @ZililoR
Online Reporter