Online Reporter
Ellina Mhlanga
Zimpapers Sports Hub
IT is looking promising for the National Athletics Association of Zimbabwe Interprovincial Championships set for this weekend as athletes jostle for places for the upcoming regional and continental competitions.
The event is scheduled to run from Saturday to Sunday at the University of Zimbabwe.
The combined Senior and Junior Championships will double as the final selection competition for the Africa Senior Championships scheduled for next month in Ghana, and the Southern Region Under-20 and Under-18 Championships to be held in Mauritius in June.
National competitions director Manuel Mpofu said they have had a positive response with all provinces entering their senior and junior teams.
“Our expectation is very good performances from the athletes.
“Some of the events, like the middle and long-distance, they will run as combined, the juniors and the seniors,” said Mpofu.
“All the provinces have sent their entries.
“We are now at the point of verifying the start list.
“Now they are doing the verification. We have sent it back to the provinces and to the clubs, the entries, so that they can verify.
“We are closing today that verification process, and tomorrow, we have the final numbers.”
The juniors will also be chasing qualifying standards for the World Athletics Under-20 Championships due to take place in August in the United States.
The national association is also looking at the selection of a team for the African Union Sports Council (AUSC) Region 5 Youth Games to be staged in Maputo, Mozambique in December.
NAAZ president Tendayi Tagara said they are bringing in an expert from South Africa to assist with the electronic timing system as athletes chase times for different competitions.
“We are expecting that the juniors will qualify for the African Union Sports Council Region 5 Youth Games that will take place in Mozambique. We are expecting a very big team.
“At the same time, the juniors are going for the World Junior Championships.
“What we have done as an association is to hire an expert for electronic timing from South Africa to make sure that our juniors get electronic timing.
“Most of them have been crying out that they are going out to South Africa to seek electronic timing.
“Electronic timing will be there on the 25th and 26th, and we are expecting a big number of them to turn up for this event.
“The juniors are also chasing the Southern Region Youth and Junior Championships that will take place in Mauritius in June,” said Tagara.
For the juniors, the top eight in the sprints qualified to represent their provinces at the NAAZ meet during the selection events held in Harare and Bulawayo last month. They will be joined by the top eight from the NASH National Track and Field Championships in those events.
The idea to have qualifying events for the juniors was to try and push them to run good times ahead of the upcoming major competitions and also decongest the national event.
For the seniors, some of the provinces had selection competitions while others picked their best athletes based on the performances they have been posting during various competitions.
