Online Reporter
Ellina Mhlanga
Zimpapers Sports Hub
WITH the Inter-provincial Championships done and dusted, the National Athletics Association of Zimbabwe are now set to announce the teams to represent the country at the continental and regional events.
The combined junior and senior national championships were held at the University of Zimbabwe over the weekend, with NAAZ using the competition as the final selection event for the Africa Senior Championships.
The next port of call is the Africa Senior Championships scheduled for May 12 to 17 in Accra, Ghana.
The team is expected to be a blend of the US-based athletes and local talent.
NAAZ director of coaching Phakamile Lisimati confirmed they are announcing the final team this week as well as the junior team for the Southern Region Under-18 and Under-20 Championships scheduled for June in Mauritius.
“We are in the process of finalising our national teams,” said Lisimati.
“We will be announcing our Africa Senior Championships team during the course of this week.
“We will also be announcing our Region 5 Mozambique AUSC Games long list for the junior teams.
“We have juniors that are expected to fly out to Mauritius very soon.
“So, this was not just a competition, it was an opportunity for all our athletes, whether senior or junior, to make the grade into the national teams and be counted and be a member of our national team.”
It was an interesting outing for the juniors who were also pursuing times for the forthcoming World Athletics Under-20 Championships to be staged in the United States in August.
A few of them posted times inside the qualifying mark in 100m, 200m, and 400m but have to wait for verification from World Athletics.
These include sprinters Trey Chimunya, Arab Chimuchembere and Emmanuel Uriga.
“Overall, I am very happy with the turnout. I am very happy with the performances that I saw on the track and on the field events.
“From the times that I have seen, the performances that I have seen being clocked by these boys and girls, the senior men and women, they are quite impressive and exciting.
“I just want to mention the 200m sprinters that I saw, the young boys, Trey Chimunya and Arab Chimuchembere, in the 200m final.
“The young men both ran 20.60, 20.70, that’s quite impressive time for juniors.
“We also saw the senior men, Ngoni Makusha, the veteran, coming in at 20.6 seconds as well.
“It means there is a lot of work that is being done by coaches on the ground, there is a lot of work that is being done by schools,” added Lisimati.
It was a close contest between Chimunya and Chimuchembere in the junior men 100m and 200m.
Chimunya walked away with the 100m title with a time of 10.60 seconds, and Chimuchembere was second in 10.70 seconds.
Chimunya had posted a time of 10.47 seconds in the heat, beating the 10.50 seconds qualifying time for the World Under-20 Championships.
The 200m saw the tables turning, with Chimuchembere crossing the finish line first in 20.68 seconds while Chimunya came second in 20.78 seconds.
Chimunya, who also won the NASH title last month said; “The NASH event was really helpful because I saw some of the upcoming challenges who could try to challenge me, but not really.
“For both 100m and 200m I have managed to qualify to go to the World Junior Champs in the US.
“The plan is I am going back to the drawing board. I am going to start doing my best work.”
Chimuchembere could not hide his joy after claiming the 200m title.
“Since I just won, since I just qualified for the worlds, I think I am just going to keep on training because I think we have Mauritius soon.
“I am going to keep on training, then go Mauritius, go for the World Championship. Just keep on putting the hard work.”
