adminEllina Mhlanga Sports Reporter
ZIMBABWE put up a brilliant performance to retain their title in the Confederation of Schools Sport Association of Southern Africa track and field championships over the weekend in Swakopmund, Namibia.
The championships, which started last Thursday, attracted athletes from Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia and Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe were the defending champions going into the championships and amassed 55 medals — 21 gold, 20 silver and 14 bronze medals to claim the top spot. Hosts, Namibia came second with 52 medals. One of the coaches for the team, Silas Muringani attributed the success to a good fighting spirit by the team.
“We witnessed spirited performance by the team in all departments — track and field. Records tumbled and on the last day, we won it with a convincing margin.
“We dominated the short sprints and the middle distance.
Tinotenda Matiyenga, Alfred Chawonza, Tatenda Zinyengere and Dorothy Kavumbura were in a class of their own. All our athletes posted their personal best times and new records were set.
“The Cossasa is a good platform for youth and junior development. Almost 11 of the athletes that participated for Team Zimbabwe are in the Region Five Games team. And this definitely was kind of a warm up event for them,” said Muringani.
Zimbabwe had 82 athletes competing in the championships focusing mainly on the 14-and-under for Primary Schools and Under-17s for Secondary Schools.
Botswana and Lesotho were third and fourth with 36 and seven medals respectively. While Angola, who failed to win a single medal, were on the bottom of the medals table.
National Athletics Association of Zimbabwe president Tendai Tagara said the success of junior teams are a positive indication to a bright future.
“I was very pleased with the performance of the team bearing in mind that the competition caters for school kids. It shows we are doing well in schools athletics.
“And that’s a good indication for future development of senior athletes if juniors are doing well.
“The youths performed well but we were expecting one or two to qualify for the World championships but we did not pick times for the championships.”
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