Online Reporter
Ellina Mhlanga
Zimpapers Sports Hub
TEAM Zimbabwe coach for the Southern Region Senior Athletics Championships Phakamile Lisimati says outstanding performances by junior athletes during the competition show the future is bright.
The regional meet staged at the University of Zimbabwe attracted athletes from Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, Zambia and hosts Zimbabwe.
Some of the participating countries, including Zimbabwe, took the opportunity to field young talent along with seasoned athletes. The hosts were placed second overall behind Botswana. Mauritius were third.
For Zimbabwe it was an improved show, after finishing fourth at the previous edition held in 2019, and the competition took a break before its return this year.
“Our team did try their best. They performed exceptionally well.
“Unfortunately, we couldn’t win the tournament but I am happy with the participation and the performance by the mostly young athletes that dominated our team. Congratulations to Botswana,” said Lisimati.
“We had not had this event in the last six years and the last time Zimbabwe participated in this event it was in Mauritius.
“Zimbabwe was fourth . . . But now we are back and our team was mostly dominated by young athletes, upcoming athletes
“The future is bright and it’s up to us now as coaches to continue to nurture these young athletes and move forward from here.”
Phakamile was also impressed with the outcome in the field events, where Zimbabwe picked most of their gold medals.
“The field events are technical events, and I am happy to say that we dominated and won these medals, most of them from the field events, the gold medals specifically.
“We have great potential. Huge potential to do better and to improve in these events.
“It says a lot to us as coaches to make sure we tap and nurture that talent that we have seen in the young athletes performing in the field events,” added Phakamile.
For the likes of Kimberly Kachambwa, Trey Chimunya, Martha Chipuriro and Thulange Mudenda it has been three weeks of competition, moving from one competition to another.
They were in Namibia for the African Union Sports Council (AUSC) Region 5 Youth Games. They then went to Nigeria for the Confederation of African Athletics (CAA) Combined Under-18/Under-20 Championships before joining the seniors for the regional meet.
Kachambwa got gold in women’s discus. Chipuriro won silver in the women’s 5 000m. Zimbabwe hosted the competition at a time when the CAA have underscored the importance of such regional competitions.
CAA, at a congress held recently in Nigeria, emphasised the need for more competitions and urged regions to host regional meets.
Botswana coach Nason Maotwe said they are excited to have the regional competition back.
“We are very impressed by our performance, even for the competition. The fact that the competition is back, next time it will just be bigger and better.
“I think it is very beneficial to us as coaches, athletes and the entire region at large because sometimes working together, before we can think of dominating the international level, we should start at home.
“We should start from the regional level and work together there, then that’s when we can progress further.
“If we can’t unite, work together and see our mistakes, rectify them before we go to international levels, then we won’t do anything. But if we can just come together, work together and see where we are lacking and correct those things, then we can start dominating internationally.
“That’s how those Europeans and Americans are doing it. Every year they have their regional competitions and that is boosting them.
“So, with the return of this competition, we are very happy and we look forward to never killing it again,” said Maotwe.
National Athletics Association of Zimbabwe president Tendayi Tagara expressed gratitude to the various sponsors that came on board to support the event.
“In terms of preparation I am happy with the partners that came on board. Hwange Colliery Company was the premier sponsor, besides moving coal, they are also moving the nation.
“Old Mutual came in as one of our major sponsors IMM and all other companies that came on board to assist we are happy that they were on board,” said Tagara.
