adminEllina Mhlanga Sports Reporter
THE National Athletics Association of Zimbabwe is scheduled to field 20 athletes for the Africa Youth Championships to be staged in Mauritius next week.
The championships will run from April 23 to 25 and the Zimbabwean team was in camp at Churchill under the watchful eye of head coach for national team, Briad Nhubu from April 11 to yesterday.
The team will leave for Mauritius next week in two batches with the first group leaving on April 20 and the second one on April 21.
Nhubu said the last few days they spent with the team presented them with the opportunity to assess the athletes before they leave for Mauritius.
“We have been in camp, we started on the 11th of April. We are doing our final touches and currently we have 17 athletes with us. The other two are in South Africa so we will meet them in Johannesburg and the other one is in Bulawayo and she is leaving early on the 17th (today) because she is travelling with her parents.
“I can say preparations were quite fruitful and very helpful in the sense that most of our athletes are youths and don’t have professional clubs they train with. It’s been a long time since they did school competition. So we are saying this training camp has actually benefited them because it’s been a long break since they had some serious training.
“It’s been a platform to assess our performance and team building. I can say it was quite a success,” said Nhubu.
Nhubu said their participation in the youth championships is mainly for the athletes to gain experience and exposure since most of them are competing in such a big event for the first time.
“When you are dealing with these youths they haven’t been to international competitions before and most of them are doing it for the first time and maybe it’s because of the economic difficulties we are facing that we cannot afford to host them (athletes) maybe for a month in camp.
“We are taking them for exposure and at the same time to gain experience but on medals we cannot promise, however, we want them to gain experience.
“However, we have Shingirayi Hlanguyo, who has been to international competition before and we are hoping that he might get into the semi-final or finals. We also have Enlitha Ncube, she was in China last year but the event she is competing in the 800m event that’s where the Kenyans usually dominate.
Nhubu will handover the team to coach Wellington Zingwe, who will travel with the athletes assisted by Chuchu Chiratidzo.
Team
Boys:
Shingirayi Hlanguyo (100m and medley relay), Samuel Tapera (100m and medley relay), Rutendo Simupere (200m and medley relay), Godknows Mtetwa (200m), Leon Tafirenyika (200m and medley relay), Walezani Hwanda (400m), Clement Dzikiti (800m), Godwin Moyo (1 500m), Munyaradzi Chadenga (high jump), Fadzai Mushonga (high jump and long jump), Tinotenda Kanyongo (long jump), Oberhacke Arian (hammer throw and javelin).
Girls:
Kiana Lees (100m and 200m), Tanaka Nyikavaranda (100m hurdles and medley relay), Natalie Charidza (200m and medley relay), Nomatter Kapfudzaruva (400m), Nyasha Sithole (400 hurdles), Enlitha Ncube (800m)Qubekani Dube (3 000m).
Online Reporter