Harare win Naaz athletics championships

Innocent Kurira, Sports Reporter
THE National Athletics Association of Zimbabwe (Naaz) successfully hosted its inter-provincial championships at White City Stadium in Bulawayo at the weekend where Harare emerged champions.

The competition was conducted under strict Covid-19 health protocols meant to curb the spread of the pandemic.
The inter-provincials is the first event to be staged by Naaz since the recent lifting of the ban on sports activities.

Government banned all sports activities as part of national lockdown restrictions meant to curb the spread of the pandemic.

Only five-track events, the 100m, 200m, 400m, 800m and
5 000m, were contested after relays were scrapped to meet Covid-19 health protocols.

Each province could only field two athletes per race in both the men’s and women’s categories.

The electronic timer that was repaired in March was also used for the first time, authenticating athletes’ times compared to previous years when times were recorded manually.

Naaz president Tendai Tagara said he was pleased that athletes had returned safely to the track.

“You could tell from their body language and the way they were interacting with each other that they had really missed doing what they love. Most of them seem to be in good shape, showing that they have been training on their own. We are happy that this meet was a success,” said Tagara.

“For a long time, our athletes have been complaining about their times being captured manually and I am pleased that the electronic timer is now working perfectly and athletes were happy that this time their actual times were captured. The association met the costs of repairing the timer and we are pleased that our athletes appreciated the effort we put in to make them better athletes.”

The event was used as a qualifier for the 2021 World Junior Championships to be held in Nairobi, Kenya, the Tokyo Olympic Games as well as other major regional and continental meets set for next year’s athletics season.

Tagara said they were hoping to stage two more meets in Harare before the end of the year.

Inter-provincial championships medals table
G S B
Harare 4 1 3
Mash Central 3 1 3
Bulawayo 1 4 1
Mash East 1 0 2
Manicaland 1 0 0
Mash West 0 3 0
Mat South 0 1 0
Midlands 0 0 1
Masvingo 0 0 0
Mat North 0 0 0