Online Reporter
Ray Bande
Senior Reporter
MINISTER of State for Manicaland Provincial Affairs and Devolution, Misheck Mugadza will headline tomorrow’s fundraising launch for Team Manicaland at Mutare (Queens) Hall, where the business community is expected to rally behind the province’s participation in this year’s National Youth Games.
The event starts at 1pm.
Manicaland will join nine other provinces in Marondera, Mashonaland East, for the annual multi-discipline extravaganza to be held next week.
The Zimbabwe National Youth Games return to the country’s sporting calendar this year, six years after the inter-provincial competition was halted by the Covid-19 pandemic in 2019.
Mashonaland East will host both the Youth and Paralympic editions.
Renowned farmer and retired sports personality, Peter Dombropoulos, who chairs the Manicaland Sports and Recreation Development Committee, confirmed the launch.
“The Zimbabwe Youth and Paralympic Games will be held this month, between August 12 and 18 (Youth Games) and August 20 and 26 (Paralympic Games). These games are scheduled for Mashonaland East, and they were last held in 2019, just before the Covid-19 period. Since then we have not held any games, so this is a relaunch of the games. As such, we are appealing to everyone, especially the business community of Manicaland, to come out in droves to support the official launch so that we can help these youths participate in the 2026 edition of the games. We need sponsorship or donations for this initiative to be successful. We have approached our patron, who is the Minister of State for Manicaland Provincial Affairs and Devolution, who will be our guest of honour at the launch on Saturday at Mutare Hall, so that we enable this to be a resounding success for the provincial team,” said Dombropoulos.
Team Manicaland is expected to field 218 athletes and officials for the Youth Games. A further 148 athletes and officials will travel to Marondera for the Paralympic Games.
The provincial budget to cover affiliation, travel, camping, team unveiling and kitting for both the Youth and Paralympic Games is in excess of US$153 125.
To bolster participation, Team Manicaland will draw on existing structures, including two teams from the City of Mutare for boxing and netball, a goalball team from Mutare Teachers’ College, an amputee team from Marymount Teachers’ College, a football team sponsored by Top Striker Hardware, and two teams from Mutare Polytechnic for women’s football and table tennis.
As Manicaland mobilises, other provinces are also securing support.
Midlands Province has already received a US$250 000 donation from its patron, Minister of State for Provincial Affairs and Devolution, Owen Ncube, and the Provincial Sports Development Committee towards funding for the National Youth Games and Paralympic Games.
