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JUST a few months after it was given the go-ahead to be the home of the Olympafrica Centre in Zimbabwe, the dormitory town of Epworth will, for the first time, host the Olympic Day commemorations next week.
The Olympic Day commemorations have traditionally been mainly held at Chitungwiza Town Centre but for this year, the Zimbabwe Olympic Committee, in partnership with the Sports Commission’s Harare Province, have decided to take them to Epworth just outside Harare.
According to Chiedza Mafunga of ZOC, this year’s Olympic Day event will be held on June 25 in Epworth at the site where the Olympafrica Centre is going to be built.
The project is the brainchild of one of Epworth’s illustrious sons, Musekiwa Kumbula, who approached the Epworth Local Board with the idea of setting up the Olympafrica Centre in the town before they got into a partnership with ZOC.
The project is going to be funded by the International Olympic Committee through the Olympafrica Foundation and will be managed by ZOC and supported by the relevant local authorities.
ZOC signed a long-term lease agreement with the Epworth Local Board in June 2014, which facilitated the sourcing of support to establish a multi-disciplinary sport and cultural centre.
The ground-breaking ceremony of the centre was finally done towards the end of April this year, paving the way for its construction and next Friday will see hundreds of local sportsmen and women converging at this site in Epworth to take part in the Olympic Day commemorations.
The event will have a 5km and 10km road run races as the main events.
Several other sporting disciplines such as soccer, netball, hockey, volleyball, darts, chess, tennis, handball, basketball and cricket have been included in this year’s programme.
Mafunga said they are this time holding the event in Epworth as a way of spreading sport to every part of the country.
Online Reporter