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The Zimbabwe National Paralympic Association had indicated that they would send nine athletes for the Sixth International Athletics Meet of Tunis and the 2012 Nedbank National Championships which are acting as qualifiers for the London Games.
The two events are already underway.
ZNPC secretary general, Lewis Garaba, said they have applied for wildcard entrance as it is the only option they are left with now.
Garaba said they have sent five names — Nyaradzai Tagara, Laina Sithole, Kudakwashe Hove, Elliot Mujaji and Clement Nyoni.
“Things did not go well and we failed to get funding. But we spoke to the International Paralympic Committee and we can enter through wildcards, so we have entered five names.
“We selected them on the basis of their results at the All-Africa Games and their times. We were looking at the times according to the best IPC qualifying standards and these are the athletes with the nearest time to qualifying standard,” said Garaba.
Garaba said they have also applied for bipartite entries in which the IPC and the relevant sport federations agree on a discretionary basis to allow an athlete to compete in the games.
The ZNPC secretary-general said they stand a good chance of having some of their athletes qualifying for London as the IPC has a policy that encourages developing countries to be part of the Games.
“We have also applied for bipartite entries for wheelchair tennis. There are people like Nyasha Mharakurwa, who failed to go to the qualifiers. We will get the results later on.
“As IPC policy they try to bring as many people as possible. We are hopeful we will get the slots,” said Garaba.
Online Reporter