adminSikhumbuzo Moyo, Senior Sports Reporter
A 75-member Confederation of School Sport Associations of Southern Africa (Cossasa) squad has gone into camp at Northlea High School in Bulawayo to prepare for the regional games set for Namibia from May 12-14.
The team is led by renowned athletics coach Lisimati Phamakile, who is being assisted by Briad Nhubu, Silas Muringani, Phanos Mugura and Lilian Chidiriro.
According to Team Zimbabwe head of delegation Phillip Chikomwe, who is also the National Association of Secondary School Heads (Nash) head-in-charge of athletics, the team trains twice a day and will depart for Namibia on May 8.
“It’s all going according to plan so far. We have two training sessions, one at White City Stadium in the morning and at Northlea High School in the afternoon. Morale is high in camp with our athletes eager to impress,” said Chikomwe.
Zimbabwe are the defending champions after clinching gold in last year’s games held in Lesotho.
Nash vice-president Arthur Maphosa last week said they were worried about the threat posed by Botswana, who missed last year’s meet.
“As defending champions, we are more than eager to defend our prized possession, but we expect stiff competition from Botswana, who have very good athletes,” said Maphosa.
Botswana missed last year’s event due to some internal problems they seem to have now been resolved.
Other participants are Lesotho, Zambia and Swaziland.
derick.khumalo