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Sikhumbuzo Moyo
ZIMBABWE only managed to send four athletes to the 18th edition of the African Athletics Championships which roared into life yesterday in Porto-Novo, Benin.
Short sprinters Brian Dzingai, Malvern Bonde, Anthony Hobwana and Francis Zimwara are representing the country. Gabriel Mvumvure was supposed to also participate in the championships but encountered visa problems. The Zimbabwe Olympic Committee assisted in terms of providing funding for the trip to the West African nation.
The meet is used as an Olympic qualifying event and is the last in Africa while the final deadline for qualifying for the London Olympic Games is 8 July.
According to the National Amateur Athletics of Zimbabwe, the country decided to send only those athletes with a realistic chance of getting Olympic qualifying times to Benin.
“We sent sprinters because our main target is to have a relay team qualifying for London. Some have qualified in their individual races but our objective now is to have a relay team,” said NAAZ president Joseph Mungwari in an interview yesterday.
He said in order for the team to be considered to have reached the qualifying time, it must compete in races with electronic timing and Zimbabwe as a country does not have such equipment.
Last month ZOC chief executive officer Anna Mguni said there was a need for the country to come up with internationally recognised qualifying standards in various sporting disciplines and also urged national associations to lobby for the recognition of their competitions by international bodies.
Once that happens, quite significant amounts will be saved as athletes won’t need to go outside the country to reach the qualifying standards.
The Zimbabwe team faces an uphill task and must perform with an extra push in order to make the cut among the best relay teams in the world.
Swimming sensation Kirsty Coventry, Michele Thornycroft and Jamie Frazer in rowing, Wirimai Juwawo, Cuthbert Nyasango and Sharon Tawengwa in Marathon have already made it for the Games in London which will run from 27 July to 8 August.
Mungwari said they could not send any Marathon runners to Benin because it was now beyond the cut off date but hinted that they could send those that have already qualified to high altitude training in Nyanga.
“Our Marathon runners might have qualified but we need to push them into getting even better times and I think sending them for a high performance camp in places like Nyanga will help a lot,” said Mungwari.
Online Reporter