Chronicle Editor
Sikhumbuzo Moyo, Senior Sports Reporter
With three of Zimbabwe’s five athletes at the Olympics Games in Tokyo already out of contention for medals, golfer Scot Vincent knows the nation’s expectations rest on him when he takes to the greens at the Kasumigaseki Country Club tomorrow morning.
He tees off at 12:30am (Zimbabwe time) and faces a field of 59 golfers from a total of 35 countries.
The 29-year-old will be on the course from tomorrow morning to Sunday morning and unlike most sports codes, there is no elimination in golf with each golfer playing all the four rounds and then rankings thereafter will be used to determine medal winners.
Vincent has been training hard at the venue getting five days of intense preparations, according to his coach who is also the Zimbabwe Golf Association (ZGA) president Mufaro Chivonivoni.
“He has managed to get five days of practice at the golf course so he is now well prepared. He is focused on performing to the best of his ability and hopefully that will be good enough to get a good result,”
said Chivonivoni in an interview with Chronicle Sport from Tokyo, Japan.
Chivonivoni however said Vincent, while fully aware of the expectations back home, was equally aware of the need not to put himself under a lot of unnecessary pressure although he will still put up a strong fight for a good finish.
“We are very much aware of the support and expectations back home. Qualifying for the Games is an achievement on its own. Given the strength of the golfers participating he knows that a medal is extremely difficult to get but will put in 100 percent effort with the hope that it will be enough for a good place finish,” said Chivonivoni.
Vincent and Peter Purcell-Gilpin (rowing) are the only Zimbabwean athletes who qualified for the Olympics Games on merit after they managed to meet the qualifying standards to the Games during the qualifying events.
Swimmers, Donata Katai and Peter Wetzlar qualified for the Tokyo Olympic Games after Zimbabwe were awarded two slots to the multisport showpiece by FINA as local swimmers struggled to reach the qualifyingtimes.
ZIt’s the same story for athletics, who got awarded one slot to the Games by World Athletics. Sprinter Ngoni Makusha is expected on track for the men’s 100m event on Saturday.
Online Reporter
Londile Moyo