adminThe Games had been tentatively pencilled to run from 9-13 April in the Midland capital.
The officials’ calls were prompted by a change in the closing schools’ date which has been moved forward to 27 March due to the expected national elections as well as the referendum on the new constitution.
Bulawayo province felt preparations will be hugely disrupted once schools close as most of the athletes will go back to the provinces and probably compete for their home provinces instead of representing their schools’ provinces as has been the norm. The cost of bringing them to camp will also be inhibitive for the provinces.
“All we are saying is that it’s usually easier to go into camp immediately after schools close, administratively and financially. To ask the athletes to come back to camp two weeks after schools close is almost impossible while also keeping them in camp for that long will be a huge financial burden,” said the SRC Bulawayo province coordinator Sam Dzvimbu during a local organising committee meeting held at Nkulumane Spar last Friday.
The meeting also reviewed the Youth Education through Sports Games that the city played host to last December.
In attendance were various committee chairpersons as well as the chief executive officer and city businessman, Raj Modi.
Dzvimbu said a large number of their athletes were from King George V School and most of them were boarders from other provinces. He said it will be difficult for these boarders to return to participate in the games during school holidays.
Bulawayo province has generally been doing well in the games.
Inaugurated in 2008 in Bulawayo, the Zimbabwe National Paralympic Games is the premier sporting activity for the disabled persons in Zimbabwe as it brings together athletes and officials from the 10 provinces of Zimbabwe in a three-day sporting extravaganza.
Apart from sport competitions the athletes and officials are exposed to social issues that affect their lives through education and entertainment programmes. The issues covered include health and well being, hygiene, culture, Paralympism and HIV/ Aids. The Zimbabwe National Paralympics Games are run on the same principle with the Zimbabwe National Youth Games. The ZNPG are used as a platform to select athletes for the International Paralympics and Special Olympics Games. As developmental Games the emphasis of the ZNPG is for the participating young disabled athletes to focus on sharing experiences and making friends through the interaction with peers from other parts of the country.
The past five editions of the Games have been held on a rotational basis, following the same hosting format of the Zimbabwe National Youth Games. A landmark has been the recognition of Zimbabwe as an affiliate member of the International Paralympics Committee (IPC) and the country became a full member in October 2011.
Such an achievement has elevated the level of participation for the Zimbabwe National Paralympics Games as the athletes can now compete with a focus on participation in all the World games for the International Paralympics Committee (IPC) competitions.
The following sports disciplines have been included since the launch of the Games in 2008:-
l Wheelchair Sports (Paraplegics and Amputees) – Athletics, Basketball & Tennis
l Zimbabwe Association for Sports for the Blind – Athletics & Goal ball
l Association of Hearing Impaired Sports – Athletics, Football & Netball
l National Sport Association for Persons with Intellectually Disability
Bongani Ndlovu
Online Reporter