Naaz applies for funding to help Olympic athletes

Ricky Zililo, Senior Sports Reporter
THE National Athletics Association of Zimbabwe (Naaz) has applied for more funding from the Zimbabwe Olympic Committee (ZOC) to assist athletes prepare for the Tokyo Olympic Games.

More than 15 000 competitors are expected at the Tokyo Games that are due to start on July 23 and Naaz has seconded three athletes to the Olympic Solidarity scholarship.

Sprinter Ngoni Makusha and roadrunners Constance Nyasango and Munyaradzi Jari are the three covered by the full Olympic Solidarity scholarship.

Last week Makusha set up an online crowd-funding initiative, seeking to raise US$2 500 to enroll for a training camp at the High-Performance Centre in Pretoria, South Africa.

The athlete’s initiative raised questions about what Naaz, ZOC and the Sports and Recreation Commission are doing to assist the athletes.

Responding to inquiries from Chronicle Sport yesterday, Naaz president Tendai Tagara said they have played their part in assisting Makusha as the full scholarship he is on covers his needs.

“He is on a full scholarship so as an association we have done our part to ensure he gets it. We have no problem with him looking for extra funds, but that does not mean he doesn’t have the basics. He is on a full scholarship recognised by the IOC. It comes from the Olympic Solidarity Fund. As a federation, we apply and get a deserving athlete, and he deserved it together with Nyasango and Jari,” said Tagara.

“There is nothing wrong if there are other sources he can get funding from, but it doesn’t have to appear as if he is desperate. He is not desperate. We applied for the funds and we expect the Olympic Solidarity scholarship funds to be availed after three months,” he said.

The Olympic scholarship programme, funded by the Olympic Solidarity Fund, an arm of the International Olympic Committee, offers National Olympic Committees the possibility to obtain financial and technical assistance for a limited number of elite athletes, training and attempting to qualify for the Olympic Games.

Coincidentally, Makusha shares the same name and surname with Olympian Ngoni Makusha, who missed a bronze medal in the long jump event by a whisker in the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Makusha has engaged one of the top South African coaches Thabo Matebedi to help him in his quest for qualification.

Tagara believes training in South Africa alongside elite coaches as well as participating in races across the Limpopo will have a positive effect on Makusha. — @ZililoR