Online Reporter
Don Makanyanga
Zimpapers Sports Hub
The Zimbabwe Chess U-16 team, which is set to represent the country at the FIDE World Youth U16 Chess Olympiad is oozing with confidence ahead of the debut appearance at the world championships in Colombia later this month.
The country is set to be represented by four playing players, two boys and two girls, namely, Amith Boddapati, Danmore Mashawa, Carrol Ndlovu and Amyra Jain.
With a thrust to develop chess at a tender age, Zimbabwe will for the first time have a team to participate at the FIDE World Youth U16 Chess Olympiad to be hosted by Colombia from August 16 to 23.Non Playing captain and Zimbabwe Chess Federation (ZCF) executive director, Tapiwa Gora, who is set to lead the national team to the Olympiad tournament, stated that the federation was excited to be sending a team to the world championships.
“As Zimbabwe Chess Federation we are really excited about representing the country at the U-16 World Youth Olympiads.
“We are looking forward to an exciting tournament and hopefully we will bring back the medal for the country and set a precedent to the other teams that will follow going forward,” Gora.
Gora revealed that the team was ready for the Olympiad stating that they are confident of leaving a mark at the Olympiads.
“The preparations have gone well and we have done everything we can to get the team to their best condition possible. So, now it’s a matter of going there and performing on the big stage,” said Gora.
He added that the team is the best that country has in the U-16 category.
“The team was selected based on rating.
“By rating, Amith Boddapati is the highest rated Under-16 in the country, then we have two Under-16 champions Danmore Mashawa and Carrol Ndlovu.
“Amyra Jain comes in as the wild card, as the youngest player in the team and is the current Under-13 champion for Zimbabwe and recently participated at the Under-15 Africa Schools Chess Championships in Kenya and managed to come fifth,” said Gora.
Mathew Masinge