Kirsty mines gold

gold medal of the 10th All-Africa Games here, winning the women’s 400m Individual Medley event at the National Olympic Swimming Pool late Monday night.
Coventry was in a class of her own, shrugging off a menacing challenge from Zimbabwe-born South African swimmer Mandy Loots – who had earlier won their heat – to touch the wall first and also claim the first medal of any colour for her country on the fourth day of competition.

The second and third medals did not take long to follow, with 200m freestyle swimmer Nicole Horn reaping silver after another strong showing that once again confirmed swimming’s status as Zimbabwe’s best performing sporting code.
Coventry, Horn, Kirsten Lapham and Samantha Welch then teamed up yesterday morning for the 4 x 200m freestyle relay in which they finished second to South Africa to bag a second silver and third overall medal for Team Zimbabwe.
Algeria took home the bronze.

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Lapham was not so lucky on her own after swimming to a fourth place finish in the 100m freestyle final with compatriot Horn a fraction of a second behind her.
Competition in the pool continues today with Coventry seeking to fill her basket with more accolades from the 200m Individual Medley and her two favourite 100m and 200m backstroke events.
James Lawson and Timothy Ferris will also dive into Zimpeto’s Olympic standard pool, which is positioned in the same manner as the Chitungwiza Aquatic Complex, after qualifying for the men’s 100m freestyle final.

Elsewhere, the ladies basketball team were smiling for the first time yesterday after pipping DR Congo 63-61 in their Group A preliminary encounter at Desportivo Sports Club.
Alexandra Maseko, Rachel Makoni and Isobel Tengende powered the victory with a brilliant trio of three-pointers in the final quarter that turned the tables on the Central Africans who led for most of the encounter.

Ronald Garura’s charges now need to defeat Algeria in their final round-robin tie to remain with a chance of squeezing into the quarter-finals.
Four teams from each of the two six-team groups will qualify for the last eight of their event.
There was also jubilation in boxing after Stephen Masiyambumbi defeated his Togolese counterpart by a split-points decision last night to push his way into the second round of his light welterweight category.

His brother Foster lost to a Mozambican opponent in an earlier bout to leave him with no further part to play at the ongoing sporting jamboree.
It must have been Kirsty’s composure that set ablaze the dampened mood at the Team Zimbabwe camp at the Athletes Village and clearly inspired the resurgence now being witnessed among the remaining competitors in other disciplines.

The Mighty Warriors regrouped for a training session at the Old Maxaquene Stadium yesterday and looked to have put behind memories of their heavy 1-4 loss to South Africa on Monday.
They next clash against Ghana who overcame Tanzania 2-1 in the other Group B match on Monday night.The match takes place tomorrow at the new Maxaquene Stadium.

CURRENT MEDAL STANDINGS