adminEllina Mhlanga Sports Reporter
ZIMBABWE’S coach for the team to compete at the African Junior Athletics Championships, John Robson, is confident in his athletes to make an impression in Mauritius. The championships start tomorrow and will end on Sunday and the team has been camping in Bulawayo over a week as part of their final preparations.
The team is made up of Anesu Muswazi (100m and 110m hurdles), Takudzwa Muchichwa (high jump), Andile Mhlanga (long jump and triple jump), Talent Gomba (100m and 200m), Sean Banda (100m), Shingirai Hlanguyo (200m), Maryjoy Mudyiravani (1 500m and 800m) and Melissa Hwarambwa (100m hurdles).
Robson said morale was high in their camp and some of the medal hopefuls were Muchichwa and Mudyiravani, who have been doing well.
“At the moment we have eight athletes, six boys and two girls, and morale is really high in camp. Most of the athletes I have participated in the Southern Region Championships last year.
“I expect high performance, especially from Takudzwa Muchichwa, because he has so far broken the high jump record and his personal best is 2,11m while the qualifying standard for Mauritius is 2m.
“We have Maryjoy Mudyiravani who was recently in Ukraine, I expect her to do well also because she has got a lot of international experience.
“I am not ruling out the others because I think they will also do well judging from what I have seen from the training,” said Robson.
Robson said although they had enough time to prepare for the event with the other athletes, he did not get the chance to assess South Africa-based Hlanguyo who joined the team yesterday in Johannesburg.
“The team came to Bulawayo just before the Youth Games, some have been competing. The only problem is Shingirai who is based in South Africa because I haven’t had time to asses him,” said Robson.
In the previous edition Zimbabwe had two athletes competing and did not get any medals after finding the going tough.
Online Reporter