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Ellina Mhlanga
Senior Sports Reporter
AS the team to represent the country at the World Athletics Championships brace for the task ahead, National Athletics Association of Zimbabwe director of coaching, talent identification and development Lisimati Phakamile believes they have done most of the work for the build-up.
The World Championships are due to take place from August 19 to 27 in Budapest, Hungary.
Zimbabwe are going to field four athletes — three marathon runners — Isaac Mpofu, Ngonidzashe Ncube (men’s marathon) and Fortunate Chidzivo in the women’s category. They will be joined by United States-based sprinter Tapiwa Makarawu, who qualified for 200m.
The qualification window for events is now closed and the focus has been on ensuring the athletes are ready for the competition.
The marathon runners have been in camp in Harare under the guidance of head coach for middle and long distance Benson Chauke while Makarawu has been working in his base.
NAAZ had hoped some of their sprinters based in the United States would make the cut through the world ranking at the close of the qualification period after missing the qualifying times to add to the four but none of their hopefuls made the grade.
The pair of Chidzivo and Ncube qualified through the rankings when the qualification window for marathon closed on May 30. For track and field events it closed on July 30.
“There was a possibility of us having a number of athletes being picked up on world ranking, unfortunately Zimbabwe did not benefit this time from that ranking.
“All of our athletes did not make the required ranking numbers, so we will maintain that four.
“Now that the qualifying window has closed, it’s very fortunate that all our four athletes have qualified well in time for their preparations.
“The marathon runners team has been in camp since the 1st of July and they have been working tirelessly under close watch of the head coach of middle and long distance coach Benson Chauke.
“So they have been working very hard and those were the preparations that we were doing here at home,” Phakamile said.
The three marathon runners and Chauke are expected to leave on August 22 while Phakamile leaves earlier, on August 16 to meet up with United States-based Makarawu, who is expected to be in Hungary on August 17.
The 200m heats are scheduled for August 23. The women’s marathon is on August 26 and the men’s is scheduled for August 27.
The director of coaching, talent identification and development said they are excited to see a number of local-based athletes qualify for such big competitions.
However, with the numbers remaining low for sprints and field events, Phakamile said without standard facilities in the country, it will remain a challenge to see more athletes making the grade for such events as the World Championships.
“Definitely we will always have a challenge in that regard (sprints and field). First of all, we are looking at the facilities that our athletes should compete in and make sure that they meet the qualifying standards.
“We do not have quality standards for our athletes to qualify to those levels. We do not have any standards that are up to at least host a regional competition. So it becomes a mammoth task for us to push for qualification in that regard.
“We are hoping that and praying that one day in the future our country, our association will have a standard track and field facility with all required equipment and facilities such that our athletes will qualify,” said Phakamile.
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