adminSports Correspondent
THE All-Africa Games have been rebranded following several transformations since the Organisation of African Unity was re-christened the African Union. The continental games will be known as the African Games following the renaming of the Supreme Council of Sport in Africa to the African Union Sports Council. The name change is part of an exercise that has seen the continent’s sporting regions being renamed such as Zone Six which is now Region 5. The 11th edition of the continental Games, which are held after every four years, will be held in Congo-Brazzaville, where the Games first kicked off 50 years ago, from 3 September to 19 September.
This year the Games will see participants battle for honours in 32 disciplines across the board although Zimbabwe will only take part in 12 of the sporting codes.
Africa Games marketing and publicity manager Dave Simba said preparations were ongoing with chef de mission, Joseph Muchechetere having travelled to the central African country last week for a briefing attended by all head of delegations.
He said they will soon be releasing the final list of players after a provisional squad had been announced early last month.
“Muchechetere was invited to the host country to attend one of the regular briefings and he is expected back on Saturday (yesterday). As you are aware we announced a provisional team but we will soon have the final list and it will be announced soon,” said Simba.
The glitter of the rebranding, however, could have taken some gloss off the Games following a rift between the Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa and the African Union which means the 2015 Games will no longer serve as a qualification event for the International Olympics that are scheduled for Rio de Janeiro in 2016.
According to Olympic news website insidethegames.biz, following the dissolution of the Supreme Council of Sport in Africa in July 2013, the organisation for the Games was transferred to the African Union Sports Council that was supposed to work in conjunction with Anoca to promote and organise the event.
However, the two bodies have failed to reach agreements over a number of areas, including marketing and promotion.
Anoca president Lassana Palenfo was quoted in the media last year saying: “ANOCA attended meetings in the run up to the dissolution and I even met the chair of the AU Commission (Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma) to discuss this further, but we could not agree on certain aspects so we never signed any agreement pertaining to the 2015 Games.
“So on a sporting level we have agreed to offer organisational expertise to help the next host but unfortunately we shall remain as guest attendants to these Games for now.”
However, Simba said athletes who reach Olympic qualifying times at the African Games will be acceptable to the International Olympics.
Zimbabwe has mixed showings at the Games and when the country first took part in 1987 in Kenya, the team attained 13 medals finishing position 10 while in 1991 in Egypt, Zimbabwe had 24 medals reaching number five on the medals list.
The country hosted the Games in 1995, coming seventh after winning 35 medals. South Africa hosted the next edition and Team Zimbabwe finished on position 16 despite collecting 24 medals, while in Abuja 2003 the country got seven medals and ended up on position 15.
Algeria hosted the Games in 2007 where Zimbabwe amassed 23 medals that propelled them to number eight on the table and in Mozambique the country took 15 medals leaving it at number 11.
The 2019 edition will be held in Angola.
Bongani Ndlovu
Online Reporter