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ZIMBABWE’S judokas have attributed their failure to bag the expected number of medals to lack of resources and less exposure to competitions prior to the African Union Sports Council Region 5 Under-20 Youth Games contest. Head coach Simbarashe Mashayi had promised that his team was going to bag more than eight medals at the Youth Games but they managed to get seven.
According to Zimbabwe’s assistant coach, Sydney Chibwayi, the judo team mainly consisted of first timers at a regional level.
The team only managed to win one gold, five silver and one bronze medal at this competition.
“The matches were very tough and our athletes tried their best as first timers. If you’re to compare Zimbabwe and South Africa, you’ll notice that South Africa has many of their athletes competing abroad. They’re exposed to high level competition as compared to us. Lack of resources also hampered our progress because we don’t have local leagues and tournaments to elevate the level of competitiveness amongst our athletes,” said Chibwayi.
South Africa head coach Godfrey Klein Smith confirmed that his side had roped in experienced players who have participated abroad. They bagged eight gold medals.
“Preparations for these Games were quite exhausting though, because judo sport at the southern part of Africa is very hard and strong,” said Smith.
Zimbabwe judokas remain positive on the development and growth of this sport for future competitions.
“Participating at the Games of this magnitude has boosted our athletes’ confidence. High quality international standard equipment was brought to this country. I’m very positive we’re going to use the equipment to our advantage, for both local tournaments and international,” said Mashayi.
The judo world class equipment that was brought for the Youth Games include tartami mats and electronic scoreboards and it is expected it would be used by local teams, especially schools in Bulawayo.
Medals table
Country Gold Silver Bronze Total Position
RSA 8 2 4 14 1
ANG 3 0 0 3 2
ZAMB 2 1 3 6 3
ZIMB 1 5 1 7 4
BOTS 1 2 2 5 5
MALA 1 2 0 3 6
MOZ 0 1 1 2 7
SWAZ 0 0 1 1 8
Online Reporter