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Ellina Mhlanga
Senior Sports Reporter
THE National Athletics Association of Zimbabwe are hoping to send two relay teams to compete in the MoC Relays in Nigeria next week.
This comes after NAAZ received an invitation to be part of the competition, set for June 26 and 27, in Lagos.
NAAZ president, Tendai Tagara, said they have since applied to the Sports Commission, for clearance, to send their athletes.
“Everything is being funded by the sponsors, they are giving us air tickets. We plan to send a 4x100m and 4x400m relay,” said Tagara.
“The Olympics qualification close on the 29th, so we can still run for the Olympics but, with the 4x400m, we are pushing for World Championships
“It’s a good development but it’s coming a bit late, these are the last events but the most critical thing is the availability of the US-based guys.
”It was going to make the team strong but they are not available.
“For the 4x400m, it helps to push for the World Championships. We will push for women for 4x400m and 4x100m for men.”
Vimbai Maisvoreva, Maryjoy Mudyiravanji and Faith Dube are some of the athletes being targeted.
NAAZ director for coaching, talent identification and development, Lisimati Phakamile, said they still maintain a positive attitude towards any opportunity they get to compete.
“It’s just like any other competition, just like any other opportunity that we will have, to try and qualify.
”So, we will just take it seriously and we will just send our guys to just try and qualify as well.
“Basically, the tempo that we have, and the attitude that we have towards competition, hasn’t changed, we still want to try and qualify for the Olympics or for the World Championships,” said Phakamile.
Peter Tanyanyiwa
Online Reporter