adminEllina Mhlanga Harare Bureau
YOUNG sprinter Shingirai Hlanguyo is expected to lead a small team of four Zimbabwean athletes who left the country yesterday for the IAAF World Youth Championships starting on Wednesday in Cali, Colombia. The competition will end on Sunday with athletes from across the globe competing in track and field events.
Hlanguyo is going to compete in the 100m and 200m events while Tinotenda Matienga will fight for the top honours in the 200m event.
Youth Olympian Enlitha Ncube will compete in the 800m race and Nomatter Kapfudzaruva will represent Zimbabwe in the 400m and 4x400m mixed relay.
National Athletics Association of Zimbabwe vice-president, Enias Nhoro, said they had 16 athletes that qualified for the championships but they only managed to send four athletes with the assistance of parents as the national association is facing financial challenges.
Nhoro, however, said they are likely to have one more athlete Patience Ngwenya joining the rest of the team for the relays if all goes well.
“Four athletes left in the morning (yesterday). Maybe one or two athletes might be following if all goes well. She must be following tomorrow or the day after because the relays are only starting around Friday or Saturday.
“We want to thank the parents for assisting us to send the athletes for this competition,” said Nhoro.
The NAAZ vice-president said there is need for the nation to complement the national association’s effort in assisting the athletes to compete in international competitions and added that there has been some improvement by local athletes participating in such events.
“What we do as the national association is to make sure that athletes have qualified and once they qualify, it becomes a national affair.
“We’re continuously improving as we continue sending our youngsters (to these international events). Last time we had an athlete in the quarter-finals so we expect them to go beyond that, maybe go into the semi-finals or finals in particular Shingirai Hlanguyo.
“If they go beyond what we reached last time it’s quite credible for us and even if they reach the quarter finals it’s okay.
“We’re talking of 200 countries taking part so we need to work hard to meet that grade and realistically we’re saying these kids are doing well although we’re still lacking in terms of assistance for these youngsters,” Nhoro said.
The spotlight will also be on Ncube who has been to the World Junior Championships before and the Youth Olympic Games held in Nanjing, China, last year.
The athletes are accompanied by NAAZ head coach (youth), Briad Nhubu.
Online Reporter