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Tadious Manyepo Sports Reporter
Sports, Recreation, Arts and Culture Minister Kirsty Coventry says Zimbabwe has the potential to excel in sport with the right strategies in place.
She said this after meeting her Ugandan counterpart, Peter Ogwang, at her offices yesterday.
Ogwang, who is accompanying the Ugandan Rugby 7s team which is participating in the 2024 Olympic qualifiers which kick off today in Harare, paid a courtesy call on the legendary swimmer and the two exchanged notes on different sporting aspects.
Minister Coventry said Zimbabwe can benefit a lot from Uganda, who have managed to identify and invest in specific sport which they are excelling in.
Just last month, Uganda captured global imagination after finishing fifth in the Netball World Cup held in Cape Town, South Africa after beating the hosts in the fifth place play off final.
The East African country has made huge strides in this sport and is currently ranked 6th in the world.
Uganda has also recorded impressive progress in rugby, athletics, football and boxing. And Minister Coventry believes forging long term ties with them will be greatly beneficial to Zimbabwe’s own sport.
“I have had a fruitful engagement with my counterpart from Uganda (Ogwang). His team is here for the Rugby 7s Olympic qualifiers and he is accompanying the team.
“We have had some wonderful time, discussing different strategies that we are trying to put in place,” said Coventry.
“Uganda have been successful in some specific sports and as a Ministry, we want to see how we can do well in specific identified sports.
“Uganda have about five or six sport codes they have done so well and they have about 15 sports that are played from school level. “I was interested in how they got to select those specific sports that they have done well in.
“I am happy because my counterpart is very much willing to share all that information”.
The two also had an in-depth discussion on sport funding and the cultivation of good relations between sport federations and the corporate world.
“We also discussed funding and engagement of corporates and building up the technical expertise of our national federations to enable corporates to buy into the sports vision”.
Minister Ogwang said the two countries will exchange notes, which will help either into a successful trajectory.
“Let me first thank my colleague (Coventry) for the time. Uganda and Zimbabwe have always been close to each other. We shared a lot of notes on sport development between Uganda and Zimbabwe,” said Ogwang.
“I should say the meeting was very fruitful. I want to promise that we are going to follow up on what we have started.
“We will exchange notes and formalise our relationship for the betterment of our sport”.
Online Reporter