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TEENAGE STAR . . . Zimbabwe’s latest swimming champion Robyn Lee (centre) justified the buzz surrounding her with a great performance in Bulawayo

Petros Kausiyo Deputy Sports Editor
THE significance of Government support for sport was once again brought into perspective at the CANA Zone IV Swimming and Waterpolo championships in Bulawayo when Team Zimbabwe claimed pole position.

The team was inspired by the resources provided by the Ministry of Sport and Recreation and won the five-day event.

Hosts Zimbabwe were declared the overall winners after amassing the highest number of points — 2 958.5 — ahead of Zambia with 2 295.5 and third-placed South Africa who had 1 939.

The championships also unveiled a teenage swimmer Robyn Lee for Team Zimbabwe who is already being touted as the next Kirsty Coventry after she picked seven individual gold medals and three more from relays, three silver and another silver from relay.

Crucially, though, for Team Zimbabwe was the partnership between the Government and the Zimbabwe Aquatic Union which resulted in the successful staging of the championships.

This has left both the Minister of Sport and Recreation Makhosini Hlongwane and the union’s president Mary Kloppers purring.

The Ministry of Sport and Recreation took care of accommodation and all provisions, including meals, which knocked off the budgetary constraints for ZAU by nearly 95 percent and ensured the union, which had earlier come under fire for demanding $600 participation fees from athletes, ended up charging $50.

There were also a number of downstream economic benefits accruing from Zimbabwe’s successful hosting of the 14-nation championships in Bulawayo with the city’s two major hotels Rainbow and Holiday Inn and national airline Air Zimbabwe and South African Airways recording brisk business as the event brought together over 400 athletes and officials.

Over $1 million worth of business was generated during the five-day showpiece, underlining the growth and potential of sport as a major industry worth investing in this country.

But it is the huge improvement in Team Zimbabwe’s performance, which coincided with the Government partnership, which has left Hlongwane a satisfied man.

The Minister said yesterday he was looking forward to seeing ZAU Team Zimbabwe’s performance as a platform to build a competitive side for the next Olympic Games.

“We had a great swimming championships that exposed amazing Zimbabwean talent. That Zimbabwe won the most in medals in the silver and bronze shows there is need for a small qualitative adjustment to our team to make them golden boys and girls.

“Going forward, more Zimbabweans must embrace swimming as a sport and a life skills,’’ Hlongwane said.

Kloppers hailed the “flawless organisation’’ and paid tribute to the Government for its support.

The performance by the Class of 2017 in Bulawayo is also the best by any Team Zimbabwe since the inception of the CANA Championships and the 23 gold medal haul, the second best after South Africa’s 43, was a huge improvement from the 11 which the country managed at the 2016 championships in Mauritius.

“There is a massive jump in statistics and I think this shows that there is a lot of hard work going on in swimming said.

“Government worked very well with the aquatics stakeholders and the result is there for everyone to see,’’ Hlongwane said.

Hlongwane was also happy to note that Lee had made a conscious decision to represent Zimbabwe amid indications that they had been overtures on the possibility of her swimming as an Australian.

The 18-year-old Lee won the 17 years-and-over 100m butterfly in one minute 04.43 seconds to eclipse the previous Games’ record of 1:05.67.

She also clocked 28.65 seconds in the 50m butterfly and shaved off three milliseconds from Namibia’s Zane Oberholzer’s previous record of 1:06.10 in the 100m backstroke.

There were also four individual gold medals for Donata Katai who dominated in the 11 and 12-year-old girls section while Kunda Nyambawaro weighed in with silver.

According to ZAU, Zimbabwe will also be represented at the World Senior Championships in Budapest, Hungary, in July with Lee set to be part of the team.