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Tadious Manyepo in LILONGWE, Malawi
TEAM Zimbabwe’s athletics team had a dream start to their competitions adding three medals, including a gold, at the ongoing African Union Sports Council Region 5 Games at the Bingu National Stadium here in Lilongwe.
That took Team Zimbabwe’s medal haul to 44 in the biannual meet in which the country is fielding contestants in 11 sport codes.
Athletics is one of the country’s strongholds with 40 track and field participants targeting to win medals for the country.
And they didn’t disappoint on the opening day of the discipline with Anesuishe Makuwatsine showing a clean pair of heels in the 400m hurdles to clinch the country’s third gold medal
Swimming sensation Donata Katai won the other two gold medals when romping home first in the 50m and 100m backstroke races on Monday.
The AUSC Region 5 debutant Makuwatsine, who was contesting in the 400m hurdles for the first time since he started athletics, started strongly in the outermost lane.
He appeared to fizzle out as his opponents caught up with him but that appeared to give him more energy as he outsprinted them towards the finish line.
The 18-year-old Hillcrest College learner was elated after achieving the feat.
“It’s incredible, especially given that this is my first time competing in the 400m hurdles at an international level.
“I have done 110m hurdles in Botswana where I won silver,” said Makuwatsine.
“It has always been my dream to be competing at this level. I have always wanted to be part of Team Zimbabwe at the African Union Sports Council Region 5 Games and to come here and strike gold is a dream come true.
“I am indebted to every member of Team Zimbabwe for the support and the support back home.
“I hope we will be able to win more medals for the country as we go. I know as Zimbabwe, we are capable of achieving remarkable things and I am happy our medals’ tally continues on the vertical path.”
In the females category, Tanaka Njiri won silver after coming second and she was ecstatic as well.
The third medal from athletics came from Rodney Ngezimani who bagged bronze in shotput.
The 18-year-old Prince Edward School prodigy will compete in discus today and he will be looking to better his performance.
There were still expectations from Denzel Simusialela and Ruvimbo Nyakupinda who qualified for the 100m finals in the boys and girls sections respectively.
The two were scheduled to race late in the evening yesterday.
Meanwhile, the national Under20 netball team, the Young Gems, will play in the bronze match against Malawi today after they finished fourth in the round-robin following their 55-34 defeat to South Africa yesterday.
Zimbabwe needed to win their final match against the South Africans to stand any chance of breaking into the top two and contest for gold.
They let slip a huge opportunity to clip at least second place when they were held to a 43-43 draw by Namibia on Wednesday.
And they were left with a huge task to beat the defending champions South Africa yesterday.
But with nerves all over, they were subdued by South Africa who led from the first quarter despite Zimbabwe enjoying neutral support.
South Africa will play Namibia, who finished second on the log, for the gold medal while the Young Gems have to summon their A-Game to find a way to beat Malawi to third-place.
Malawi beat Zimbabwe in their round-robbin encounter and they will be buoyed by the overwhelming support from the 5 000-seater Griffin Centre.
Coach Simbarashe Mlambo is hopeful Zimbabwe, who are the Cossana defending champions, will find a way to win bronze.
“We have to go out there, be composed, play our normal game and we will win,” he said.
“It’s a pity and I am disappointed we have failed to nail a place in the top two to fight for gold. “We should now be focused and try to win what we can.”
Both the girls and boys volleyball teams are expected to play in the semi-finals today while Team Zimbabwe was also very positive in tennis with the finals scheduled for today.
Online Reporter