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Mandla Ncube, Sports Reporter
THE Zimbabwe Chess Federation has pinned its hopes on Tapiwa Gora at the Chess Paralympics set for Russia in June.
Gora, who managed a third-place finish in the 2019 Zimbabwe Chess Open held in Harare last month increased his chances of going to represent the country in Russia.
The Open was the biggest chess event in Zimbabwe’s history with over 160 participants and over 40 rated players.
Gora asserted his supremacy claiming the Best Disabled Player of the tournament accolade and finished the tournament undefeated with five wins as well as three draws.
With Zimbabwe set to take part in the first ever Chess Paralympics in Russia, the federation has put in place mechanisms to prioritise the sector ahead of the games.
In a bid to attract more disabled people into the game, the federation has put in place specific measures like exempting the disabled from paying affiliation fees and putting special prizes for them.
The federation’s public relations and communications director, Thabo Elisha, however, acknowledges that more work still needs to be done to grow the sector.
“We still need to push to have more disabled players coming to the game and becoming professionals so that in future we have a good team, as it stands it’s still work in progress,” he said.
The federation began compiling a database for all Zimbabwean disabled players and were pleased with the response they got.
“The response was good considering that this is the first time we as a federation have recognised the disabled, we received close to 12 people whom we have registered with ZCF and FIDE”, said Elisha.
Following years of Zimbabwe Chess Federation being run by an interim committee, the newly elected president, Collen Tongowona in his development plan, set out a multi-sectorial approach that is inclusive of the disabled players.
@MaroezayMVP
Online Reporter