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AT least 95 athletes selected into Team Manicaland for the 2015 Zimbabwe National Paralympics Games Manicaland will face the unenviable task of hoisting the provincial flag high and possibly attain a top three finish at giant National Sports Stadium in the capital.
Athletes with various forms of disabilities from Manicaland will join their counterparts from other provinces in this year’s edition of the games that started on Wednesday and will end on tomorrow (Saturday).
Paralympics games is a major multi-sport event involving athletes with a range of physical disabilities that include visual, hearing, intellectual, muscle power impairments, impaired passive range of movement, limb deficiency, leg length difference and short stature, among others. Team Manicaland head coach Maxwell Madzure on Tuesday expressed optimism that the athletes will give a good account of themselves.
Mudzure, who is also the national Paralympics team head coach, said the games which started in 2008 and will be used as the barometer to select national teams to represent the country at the African Games and International Paralympics games.
Team Manicaland will be pinning its hopes on Under 19 paralympian Christine Chiwena to reduplicate the 2014 form that saw her scooping four gold medals. Christine, who is the rock that Team Manicaland is anchored on is competing in the same categories she won last year — visually impaired (T13 — partially sighted) 800 metres, 1 500m, long jump and 4×100 relay.
“We are certain that the team will perform better than last year because this year we had adequate camping time which enabled us to work and perfect the technical skills of our athletes. We are aiming a top three finish. The moral among athletes is high, and we are looking forward to Team Manicaland delivering the goods,” said Madzure. “We are happy that one athlete who was a vital cog in Team Manicaland 2014 Christine Chiwena is in top form. She has been going through intense drilling and chiseling so that she distinctively demonstrates nerves of steel and put Manicaland on the map again,” he added.
Christine said she was going to put up a good fight to reclaim her status as the undisputed Under 20 queen of the track. “I foresee myself eking a living out of athletics, and as such I must make the best out of this opportunity. I have been training so hard, and the coaches have been encouraging me to remain focused and aim high. The coaches have done everything for me, and all is left for me to repay then for the confidence by delivering the goods,” said Christine.
The games will see athletics and goal ball being reserved for the athletes with visual impairments, while amputees will also compete in wheel chair basketball and lawn tennis.
Online Reporter