dyton mupawaenda
Ellina Mhlanga-Senior Sports Reporter
SPRINTER Ngoni Makusha is staying positive ahead of his second appearance at the African Games currently underway in Accra, Ghana.
The ongoing Games are running until March 23.
Athletics is one of the 10 sport codes Zimbabwe is competing in and members of Team Zimbabwe members are travelling in batches depending on the competition schedule. Some are already in Ghana where competitions started a few days ago.
The athletics team is scheduled to leave for Ghana on Thursday and the athletes have been polishing up their preparations at the National Sports Stadium.
Makusha will compete in 100m and 200m and he is part of the 4x100m relay team. He is also a reserve for the 4x400m relay team.
“Now we are just polishing up and finishing up on a few things like the baton exchange but otherwise everything else is set.
“So far the preparations have been going well. I am happy right now that my body is healthy, I am injury-free. I have just been trying to work on my weaknesses looking at where I need to fix in terms of my running technique, my nutrition, and my mental health as well.
“So what I can say right now is I am much better than I was before. I am more prepared; I am more confident. I believe in myself and I believe at the African Games we will have some good performances, especially the relay team, we are coming up well,” Makusha said.
Makusha was part of Team Zimbabwe at the 2019 Games held in Morocco and for the athletics team, which had the largest number of athletes, their participation ended in disappointment as they failed to produce podium performances.
Makusha competed in 100m and 200m but failed to reach the finals.
“It was unfortunate that last time. In our last outing in Morocco, we couldn’t get a medal. But this time I feel like we are more prepared for that. So I think this time we can get two or three medals.
“So we have hopefuls, we have Rutendo Nyahora, Isaac Mpofu, we have the relay team, there is so much potential for us to get medals,” Makusha said.
The other members of the team are Ashley Kamangirira, Kelvin Chiku, Busani Ndlovu, Gerren Muwishi, who is the captain, Dickson Kamungeremu, Artwell Simon, Leeford Zuze, Wellington Varevi, and Bradley Makuvire.
For athletics, the Games are serving as a qualifier for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games scheduled for July 26 to August 11.
Mpofu has already qualified for the Olympics and the Games in Ghana are part of his build-up for Paris.
Makusha will also be out to try and qualify for the Olympics. He represented Zimbabwe at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games after being awarded a universality spot.
However, this time around he is hoping to run the qualifying time or accumulate enough points to make it through the World Rankings.
The qualification and ranking period for all individual events, other than the 10,000m event, marathon, combined events, and race walks runs until June 30, 2024. It opened on July 1, 2023.
“We are also looking forward to qualifying for the Olympic Games and the World Relays which are in Bahamas . . . The morale in the camp is nice and we know each other now, me, Gerren, Leeford, and Dickson, we have been working with each other for some time.
“So I think we will produce some good times at the African Games.
“And myself as an individual, last season I managed to equal my personal best (10.17) in the 100m, which I managed to equal last season whilst I was training in France. So it’s like a confidence booster for me going towards the African Games.
“So, so far I am just working with 100m and the 4x100m,” said Makusha.
The World Athletics Relays are due to take place in May.
Online Reporter