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Ellina Mhlanga-Senior Sports Reporter
ZIMBABWE’S taekwondo team had a good outing over the weekend when picking five medals at the 2022 Korean Ambassador’s Taekwondo Cup in Johannesburg, South Africa.
The team got one gold, one silver and three bronze medals in a tournament that also attracted teams from Malawi, Mozambique, Botswana, Kenya, Eswatini and hosts South Africa.
The team was led by national coach Ndaona Kembo and he was assisted by Willard Kashiri.
Zimbabwe’s only gold medal came from Kudzai Katsande in the middleweight category while Britney Kadewere claimed a silver medal in the women’s lightweight division.
Trosky Nyathi, Admire Tshitshiliza and Tatenda Bero got bronze in their respective categories.
Nyathi competed in the 67kg weight division while Bero battled it out in the 58kg category and Tshitshiliza took part in the 54kg weight division.
Kashiri said he was impressed with the team.
“As an assistant coach I am very impressed by my team’s performance because they raised our country’s flag high and the tournament was so tough because the same teams that participated there are also the teams that they will meet at the All Africa Championships.
“So we have learnt a lot and we will do our best to harvest more medals in such high level games, especially in our region.
“It’s good exposure to our team and our country. And if we pursue to get to the next level, we will win resoundingly. We are aiming to go to the Olympics and bring medals,” said Kashiri.
Kashiri said with more athletes they could have done better in South Africa.
“We didn’t come out the best because of the limited number of athletes we sent. We had only five because of financial challenges otherwise we would have done more if we had fielded athletes in all categories,” said Kashiri.
It was another positive outing for the team that won the same number of medals at the African Championships held in Eswatini in July. Zimbabwe fielded eight athletes at the championships and got one gold, three silver and one bronze medal.
Kadewere was part of that team and she got a bronze medal.
The athletes will be hoping for more tournaments as the sport continues to recover from the effects of Covid-19.
And such events as the weekend’s tournament exposes them to more competitive competition as they compete with some of the best athletes in the region.
Online Reporter