Naaz to reward field athletes

Ricky Zililo, Senior Sports Reporter
PLANS are at an advanced stage by the National Athletics Association of Zimbabwe (Naaz) to avail monetary rewards for athletes that participate in track and field events.

According to Naaz president Tendai Tagara, the move is meant to motivate athletes that compete in track events organised by the national association.

For many years, long distance athletes have enjoyed monetary rewards at branded competitions, which Naaz supervises, and now the association wants to introduce the same incentives to track and field events.

“We’ve lined up other competitions in the provinces and very soon we’ll bring to your attention our first track and field championship where our athletes will be earning some money. This is a new development in track and field in our endeavour to return athletes in the track events,” said Tagara.

“We’re busy preparing for the season and hoping the best for our athletes. We still call upon our athletes to affiliate to their provinces and to the athletics commission and the federation to ensure that whatever they do is under the rules and regulations of athletics with guidance from the Sport Unity Commission Act,” he said.

He outlined programmes that Naaz will be implementing in the near future.

He said they will conduct a simultaneous Level Two Coaching course at the National Sports Stadium in Harare and Bulawayo’s White City Stadium from tomorrow to Saturday.

“A lot of interest has been shown by our teachers, who want to upgrade their athletics coaching abilities. We’re sending a very strong team of lecturers to present them with the latest techniques of coaching at this course,” Tagara said.

At the end of this month, Naaz is expected to announce its provisional team to compete at the African Junior Championships set for April in Abidjan, Cote D’Ivoire.

“We’ll be announcing the provisional team around February 28 so that we start to prepare issues to do with tickets buying and resources for the competition. The African Youth and Junior Championship is a critical competition where we’re likely to get three or four athletes qualifying for the world championship, which will be held later in the year in Qatar,” said Tagara.

Meanwhile, Kwekwe will play host to the National Cross-Country Championships on Saturday.

— @ZililoR.