‘Need for high performance centres in Zim’

Innocent Kurira, Sports Reporter
BULAWAYO-based sprinter Denzel Siamulela, who represented the country at the World Junior Championships held in Cali Colombia earlier this month, says the country needs to invest in high performance centres for athletes to compete with the best in the world.

Zimbabwe fielded two athletes at the Championships, Panashe Nhenga and Bulawayo-based Siamulela. Though both athletes could not progress past the heats in the 100m and 200m, respectively, a lot of positives were picked up from their experience.

Siamulela and Nhenga were also part of team Zimbabwe at the Africa Senior Championships held in Mauritius in June. Siamulela was part of the 4 by 100m relay team that won a bronze medal at the continental meet.

The 18-year-old believes the international meets have helped him grow as an athlete.

“When you compete at the highest level like the recent World Championships, you then see the value of having high performance centres. I believe we have the talent to compete with the best but our training facilities do not allow us to be at the level the top athletes are at,” said Siamulela.

“If we could have world-class training centres, the medals will come to Zimbabwe. However, the work continues and personally my wish is to maybe get a scholarship which I believe will help with my growth as an athlete,” he added.

The national association has had to rely on South Africa, Botswana and Kenya when it comes to high performance centres where they can have their athletes camping and training, in standard facilities and equipment.

Although there have been promising athletes over the years, medals have not been won at major competitions such as the World Championships and the Olympics.

Zimbabwe’s last medal at the World Championships was in 2011 when United States-based Ngoni Makusha got a bronze medal in long jump, in Daegu, South Korea.

Meanwhile, the National Athletics Association of Zimbabwe (Naaz) is holding a high level World Athletics (WA) coaching course, which has drawn participants from all of the country’s 10 provinces.
The Coach Education and Certification System Level 1 course got underway last Friday and will run for 14 days with 24 coaches registering for the programme.

WA recently announced the qualification standards for the 2023 World Athletics Championships to take place in Budapest, Hungary, and they have significantly improved the standards in a number of events. — @innocentskizoe.