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Ellina Mhlanga Sports Reporter
THE National Athletics Association of Zimbabwe have said they are geared to host the Confederation of African Athletics Southern Region Senior Championships this weekend at the National Sports Stadium.The event starts on Friday with meetings to be attended by the presidents of the national associations from the different participating countries while actual competition begins on Saturday and ends on Sunday.

National Athletics Association of Zimbabwe president, Tendai Tagara, said they are looking forward to the meet, which is also a qualifying event for upcoming major competitions such as the IAAF World Championships scheduled for August in London.

“All is in place in terms of the preparations, teams will be staying at UZ. Team Zimbabwe got into camp on Monday at UZ. We have 50 athletes and participating countries start coming in on the 8th (tomorrow).

“The objective of all those countries coming is to qualify for the Junior African Championships, World (Under-18) Youth Championships and the World Championships,” said Tagara.

Zimbabwe is seeking qualification in the track and field events as they currently only have a marathon team in place made up of Cuthbert Nyasango, Pardon Ndhlovu, Milan Matende, Fortunate Chidzivo and Rutendo Nyahora to represent the country in London.

“For us we do not have any seniors that have qualified for track and field for the World Championships yet. But we are hoping they will qualify.

“After this we will be focusing on three events, the African Junior Championships, the World Youth Championships and the World Championships. The team for the African Junior Championships will start their preparations because they are closing (entries) soon. And third week of June it’s the closing of the World Youth and the World senior its end of July.

“So our focus will be those three events, we will be hunting for competition in the region to fine tune our athletes,” added Tagara.

Some of the countries that have confirmed participation in the regional championships include Botswana, Malawi, Mauritius, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa and Zambia.

Team Zimbabwe will be guided by four coaches – Lisimati Phakamile, Briad Nhubu, Lizzie Ntini and Zibusiso Nyoni – as they brace for what promises to be an exciting event.

Zimbabwe will be pinning their hopes on the likes of Tinotenda Matiyenga, Nigel Tom, Mitchell Zuze, Vimbai Maisvoreva, Bertha Chikanga and Nyasha Mutsetse.

Maisvoreva has already qualified for the World Youth Championships in the 800m while another promising 800m runner Mutsetse has been on a three-month training programme in Botswana as he seeks qualification for the global showpiece in London.