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Ellina Mhlanga
Zimpapers Sports Hub
NATIONAL Athletics Association of Zimbabwe president Tendayi Tagara says they will not leave anything to chance as they have set their sights on qualification for major events.
Tagara recently earned himself another four years at the helm of the athletics mother body when he was re-elected into office unopposed.
Their immediate major meets include the World Athletics Relays Guangzhou 2025.
The event is scheduled for May 10 to 11, 2025.
They also have the World Championships due to take place from September 13 to 21, 2025 in Tokyo, Japan and some regional meets pencilled in for earlier in the same year.
And in a move expected to assist their relay team to qualify for the World Relays, NAAZ have joined hands with fellow counterparts from Southern Africa to hold a series of events as their teams chase qualification.
“We are having a triangular series for Zimbabwe, Botswana and Namibia to run for the World Relays, so that regionally we can run our own competitions and qualify for the World Relays.
“That is for next year. We want to make sure that we try by all means to qualify,” said Tagara.
The series will be held between March and April.
NAAZ have indicated that global meets will be key towards their bid to have a bigger number of athletes qualifying for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games.
So far Tapiwanashe Makarawu has qualified for next year’s world meet.
He made the cut in 200m during the Olympic Games in Paris.
NAAZ are also looking at exposing their juniors to regional competitions in a move expected to prepare for qualification to international events.
“We have a philosophy of us to qualify for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games. We are having an Under-19 team that is going to Namibia for the 2025 Southern Region Juniors.
“The same team will go to Maputo in 2026 as Under-20. After that they have two years to then prepare for the Olympics 2028 Los Angeles, that is one route we are going to use.
“The second one is to expose more athletes to go to the World Championships that are coming, more athletes to qualify for the World Juniors, that’s another route.
“And more athletes are getting the opportunity to go for scholarships in the USA.
“Then to work closely with scouts, universities come to Zimbabwe to scout, creating a conducive environment for people to come and organise competition.
“Next year we are starting two competitions that are going to be sponsored by American coaches, specifically for talent identification for their universities.
“We are also looking at creation of a High-Performance Centre for marathon runners, which we have already started with a company in the Netherlands,” said Tagara.
They have entered into a partnership with athletes’ manager Charles Paanakker, who is a member of Masai Sports based in the Netherlands.
The agreement looks at the establishment of a marathon training centre in Harare and high-altitude centre in Nyanga, the welfare of athletes, organising races in Europe and kitting among other areas.
Marathon runner Tendai Zimuto has already been assigned to the project.
He is one of the hopefuls to qualify for next year’s World Championships.
Online Reporter