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Ellina Mhlanga
Senior Sports Reporter
ATHLETICS team captain, Gerren Muwishi, is confident of success at the African Games running from Friday to March 23 in Accra, Ghana.
Zimbabwe is competing in 10 sport codes at the continental showpiece.
They are fielding 83 athletes.
“It’s great, being able to represent your country is obviously sentimental for everyone because you are putting your country’s flag out there.
“The country is resting their hopes on you, so obviously every time you want to represent the country it’s a great feeling,” said Muwishi.
Athletics was part of Team Zimbabwe in 2019 and found the going tough at the Games staged in Morocco.
Muwishi will compete in 400m, 4x100m and 4x400m relays.
The 4x100m relay team ran one of the leading times last month when coming first at the All Comers Meet in Ndola, Zambia.
The team was made up of Muwishi, Dickson Kamungeremu, Leeford Zuze and Ngoni Makusha and they ran a time of 39.35seconds.
The athletes are all part of Team Zimbabwe and will also compete in individual events at the African Games.
“It is very motivating. For the relays we are expecting something special because considering that when we ran that time, people had come out of individual events, there will be a bit fatigue but we still managed to pull off a time like that.
“So, imagine if the guys are fresh and raring to go.
“So, definitely the 4x100m is going to be very special for us this year. It’s going to be our starting point for a very long journey towards the season.”
For athletics, the African Games are also a qualifying competition for Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
The National Athletics Association of Zimbabwe is hoping some of their athletes will run qualifying times in the individual events as well as the relay teams.
Muwishi said their preparations for the Games have been good and the relay teams have been together for some time, which he believes will come in handy when they compete in Ghana.
“Preparations are great, for the 4x100m we train together as a team. We have been together for the longest time.”
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