Chronicle Editor
Innocent Kurira, Sports Reporter
BULAWAYO Sports and Recreation Commission provincial co-ordinator Sam Nzvimbo said the two-day anti-doping education and awareness workshop held at Mckeurtan Primary School was a success.
The programme was funded by Unesco through the Fund for Elimination of Doping in Sport.
The programme facilitated by the Zimbabwe Olympic Committee (Zoc) was aimed at training education and awareness officers to cover sport disciplines throughout the country’s 10 provinces.
Within the framework of the International Convention Against Doping in Sport and according to the principles of the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) code, a major education campaign must be implemented to raise awareness of the core elements of anti-doping.
These include the rights and obligations of athletes, awareness with regards to prohibited substances and methods, the dangers and consequences associated with their use and the doping control procedures and risks.
Nzvimbo hailed the programme, which he described as the first of its kind.
“We want to thank UNESCO and Zoc for what they have done in our province. There was high demand from sports practitioners in the province for this programme, but we could not accommodate all of them and had to screen those that came,” said Nzvimbo.
“We had one representative from every sport code in the province, making it 24 participants, and 19 from the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education making a total of 43. Feedback from the participants was good and they are eager to impart the lessons to their associations so that doping is eliminated in our sport.”
Anti-doping education co-ordinator Charity Nyamayedenga said the fight against doping was everyone’s responsibility.
“Our aim is to ensure that athletes play fair. We are encouraging athletes to abstain from taking drugs. We want to see the government, the community and parents coming in to help in this fight against doping. We would like to thank UNESCO for availing funding that made it possible for us to have these workshops all over the country,” Nyamayedenga said.
Participates were taught on playing true and the principles of sport values. The training was conducted by Steven Mudawarima, Jonathan Ruwuya and Nyamayedenga.
@innocentskizoe
Online Reporter