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Ellina Mhlanga
Sports Reporter
SPORT, Recreation, Arts and Culture Minister Kirsty Coventry has expressed satisfaction with the conscious decision made by the selectors to prioritise sporting codes with the potential to win medals when they picked Team Zimbabwe for the 13th African Games.
Zimbabwe returned from the sport’s show-piece in Accra, Ghana with a commendable 11 medals.
The country was represented in 10 disciplines — athletics, chess, cycling, cricket (men and women), karate, judo, rugby, swimming, tennis and triathlon.
And half of those 10 sports codes secured at least a medal, a feat that charmed the Minister, herself a former athlete who participated in three editions of the Games between 2007 and 2015. The Games were originally scheduled for last year August before they were postponed to this year due to delays by the host nation in getting the facilities ready.
Speaking at the official welcome ceremony for the team at a Harare hotel yesterday Coventry said the decision paid-off.
“So, congratulations to coming back with 11 medals, three gold, four silver, and four bronze,’’ Coventry said.
“We are proud of every one of you.
“The reason that I am especially proud of this team is we made a decision when the Games kept getting postponed, postponed, and postponed to reduce the size of the team.
“And to only select sports where we believed we could get onto the podium because this year is quite a big year for most of the sports.
“I know our women’s cricket are about to head off to Dubai. We have the Paris Olympics, we have some other international World Championships this year.
“It’s a heavy year for the sports programme, so we made a very concerted effort to make sure that the team we were sending, was going to help with their lead-ups.
“But also had the best opportunity to bring back medals instead of just sending a massive team like we have done in the past.
“So, this is part of the Ministry and the SRC’s (Sports and Recreation Commission) protocols for the next few years to be very targeted in the sports that we are not only supporting but funding,” said Coventry. Team Zimbabwe secured their gold medals in swimming and cricket (men and women).
They added four silver medals from tennis, swimming, and rugby.
Swimming then contributed two more bronze medals while athletics weighed in with the other two. Coventry praised the athletes, coaches, and management for their valiant efforts as the country’s ranking also improved to 18th compared to 31st at the previous Games in Rabat, Morocco where they got four medals in 2019. She said the country needed to celebrate such sporting accolades.
“We are here to celebrate you and recognise all the hard work and to say thank you.
“So, congratulations on coming back with 11 medals, three gold, four silver and four bronze. We are proud of every one of you,” said Coventry. She thanked various stakeholders including the Ministry of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion for their support.
“And to the leadership, to His Excellency, the President, and our two Vice-Presidents, for their continued support that they give the Ministry is undoubtedly more than it’s been ever before.”
Coventry also presented some monetary incentives to the medallists.
Lady Chevrons captain Mary-Anne Musonda who inspired her team to gold, said the inclusion of cricket is important.
“Us being there for the first time. I think it’s an important inclusion.
“It also adds up to our build-up for (World Cup) Qualifiers that are going to be in Dubai and the much-needed preparation and fine-tuning of our skill set. I thought it was a very good opportunity as well.
“So, the timing of it was good,” said Musonda. Tennis Zimbabwe president Walter Jera saluted their players for contributing two silver medals to Team Zimbabwe.
“We are very proud that we managed to get those silver medals. We could have done better but I am very confident that the guys gave their all. “In the singles final it was a fifty-fifty match, one has to win and unfortunately it didn’t come our way.
“But looking at the results, Benji (Lock) gave it his all and we should invest more in that,” said Jera.
SRC board chairman Gerald Mlotshwa believes the Games were key in preparing teams and athletes going for other major international competitions.
“As a Sport and Recreation Commission I can assure you and the nation at large that the African Games were an integral part of improving our athletes and teams’ high performance and standards of sports in Zimbabwe.
“Team Zimbabwe managed to use the Games as preparation for World Cup games and Championships that are coming up this year with examples of the Lady Chevrons, who will be playing in the World Cup qualifiers tournament to be held in Dubai in April this year.
“And Isaac Mpofu will be competing in this year’s Summer Olympic Games in France to mention but a few,” said Mlotshwa.
Yesterday’s ceremony was also attended by the Deputy Minister of Sport, Recreation, Arts and Culture, Emily Jesaya, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry Nicholas Moyo, chairperson of the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Sport, Recreation, Arts and Culture Chamu Chiwanza, and his members Farai Jere and Beatrice Nyamupinga as well as some parents of the athletes.
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