adminAllen Khumalo Sports reporter
TEAM Zimbabwe dominated the overall medals score in the 18th Confederations of Universities and Colleges Sports Association (CUCSA) 2016 tournament which ended in Bulawayo last week.
Despite coming second to neighbours South Africa, Zimbabwe dominated the combined medals tally with 42 medals including silver and bronze whilst competition winners, South Africa had 30 medals overall. Botswana had a total of 35 medals; five ahead of South Africa.
Zimbabwe Tertiary Institutions Sports Union (ZITSU) president Martin Zibwi said Zimbabwe’s performance shows that they have the potential to win the next competition.
“Looking at the trends it shows that we are heading to the top because in the year 2012 in Namibia, we were in fourth place, in 2014 in Zambia, we were in third place and in 2016 we are second. Certainly in 2018 we have the potential to come first.”
Zibwi also acknowledged that in order for team Zimbabwe to win the next CUCSA tournament, they need to improve on their preparations as a union.
“We want to improve on our coaching system because some of the coaches in various disciplines don’t have the proper coaching qualifications. As a union we will try to provide coaching clinics in order to prepare for the 2018 Games in Angola,” said Zibwi.
Botswana came third with 12 gold medals, 13 silver medals and 10 bronze medals followed by Zambia with one gold, four silver medals and five bronze medals.
In fifth position was Malawi who had two silver medals and three bronze medals whilst Lesotho went home with one bronze. Angola failed to scoop any medal in the tournament.
In athletics, South Africa had an upper hand with nine gold, seven silver and six bronze medals while Zimbabwe had seven gold, 10 silver and 10 bronze medals. Botswana on the other hand had 11 gold, nine silver and nine bronze medals.
Malawi, Lesotho and Angola failed to get any medals in athletics.
Zimbabwe dominated in basketball.
Addressing participants and officials at the closing ceremony which was held at the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair (ZITF), the Minister of Primary and Secondary Education, Lazarus Dokora, described the tournament as a thoughtful movement as it promotes unity.
“The CUCSA games, I am informed, are meant to foster solidarity among members of the Southern Africa Universities and Colleges. They also provide students with an opportunity to compete in different sporting codes. This is a noble gesture in that it strengthens our relationships at both sport and person- to- person levels thus promoting solidarity of sport.
“We are also indebted to the countries which participated actively in these games, for without you, these games would have been less colourful and devoid of their international character,”said Dokora – @khumzallen.
Online Reporter