adminEllina Mhlanga Harare Bureau
THE senior women football team – the Mighty Warriors – should brace for a higher level of competition when they make their debut appearance at the 2016 Olympic Games next year in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Zimbabwe Olympic Committee president, Admire Masenda, said the Mighty Warriors must step up their preparations to try and match world standards if they are to leave a mark at the quadrennial event.
Speaking at a luncheon hosted by the Minister of Sport and Recreation, Makhosini Hlongwane, for the team after their historic qualification for the Rio Games at Bronte Hotel on Monday, Masenda said adequate preparations are key to their participation.
“Honourable Minister (Hlongwane) and Ministers here present, I think what you need to understand so far disciplines that have attained qualification for Rio 2016 are Mighty Warriors as already indicated, athletics has three athletes in marathon, rowing two slots have been confirmed, equestrian one slot to be confirmed but it looks very likely and of course Kirsty Coventry has also qualified.
“For the other athletes and disciplines that are pursuing qualification, there is still athletics, golf, shooting, men and women’s hockey, men’s rugby Sevens and men’s beach volleyball. So we continue to expect the team’s size to increase.
“This is a new level and I’m now speaking to the Mighty Warriors, the preparation has to be at a totally different level. The players or the countries that you are going to be playing against, most of those players are probably in the national team or vying for the national team, so they are probably playing at World Cup level. So the preparation has to be at a much higher level,” Masenda said.
The ZOC president also congratulated the team and said they have carved an indelible piece of history in Zimbabwe’s participation at the Games.
Masenda said they are now working on an estimated team of 32 athletes and 27 officials, adding that the last time Zimbabwe sent a team close to that was in 1980 when the country participated in the Moscow Games. And the size of the team was as a result of the hockey women’s team.
Masenda’s remarks comes after Sports Commission-director general, Charles Nhemachena made the same sentiments after the Mighty Warriors game against Cameroon.
“We have actually better prospects of advancing with them perhaps than their male counterparts. But what is more important is that we need to prepare for the Olympics, it is not going to be a stroll in the park. We are not going to achieve anything if we are going to proceed along the lines that we have been doing, where we have short term preparations and so on. It has to be a well-planned preparatory programme to get us somewhere at the Rio 2016 Olympics,” Nhemachena said.
ZOC chief executive Anna Mguni said the Mighty Warriors’ qualification for the 2016 Rio Games is a welcome development that shows progress in the sport.
“It’s a welcome development and sign of progress for the concerned national association. The challenge is to maintain the momentum, build on it and ensure that the growth of the sport is well planned and managed beyond 2016 and into future Games editions.
“The Mighty Warriors join Team Zimbabwe as one of the disciplines that has attained qualification to participate in the Rio 2016 Summer Olympic Games. As with the individual disciplines athletes qualified to date, preparation plans and budgets are being finalised, more so now that planning must include a team sport.
“The support towards this preparation and indeed the qualification of other athletes and teams doesn’t become the sole responsibility of ZOC, Team Zimbabwe is a national team and to this end the support will be sourced on a national level,” said Mguni
Other athletes that have qualified for the Rio Games are swimmer Kirsty Coventry, long-distance runner Wirimai Juwawo and rowers Micheen Thornycroft and Peter Purcell-Gilpin.
However, there are two other athletes in athletics and one slot for equestrian to be confirmed making it a total of seven (individual) athletes so far.
Online Reporter