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Ellina Mhlanga Sports Reporter

ZIMBABWE athletes looking at qualification for the rescheduled Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games will be hoping to make the qualifying standards at the World Para Athletics Grand Prix in Dubai next month after getting approval to participate at the event.

The Grand Prix is scheduled to run from February 6 to 14.

Zimbabwe’s chef de mission for the Games, Ignatius Vambe, said they are now working on bringing in the athletes into a bio-bubble camp.

“So we got the approval that the team should go and participate, so we have now planned that we go into a bio-bubble. We are proposing that starting on the 25th of this month everybody should be in camp.

“But what we are doing is as they come from wherever they are coming from, first of all they get tested (for Covid-19) before they get into camp.

“We have also received communication from the organisers in Dubai that once we get there, they will also get tested. After five days of competition they will be tested again . . . So we are just encouraging them to keep training and to stay safe” said Vambe.

Zimbabwe missed out on qualification last year due to the cancellation and postponement of some of the qualifying events they were targeting.

The Grand Prix in Dubai is one of the competitions they were supposed to compete in before it was postponed.

And due to travel restrictions, they could not participate in other events that were held later in the year in 2020.

Although the country was considering fielding athletes for powerlifting, the focus is now on athletics and will be fielding athletes in three categories that is for the visually impaired, amputees and a blade runner.

“So for us as Zimbabwe we picked on athletics because if you look at our track record as a country in terms of Paralympics that is where we have the highest number of medals. So we looked for an event where we thought we would be able to get people qualifying for Tokyo.

“So we have three categories, we have the visual impaired, we have got the amputees and we have got one blade runner. For the others the window has already closed.

“The other one was powerlifting but as a country we are not very strong in that event, so we thought we would go for an event where we have got hope of getting people qualifying for Tokyo,” said Vambe.

Zimbabwe’s first gold medal was won by Elliot Mujaji in Sydney, Australia, in 2000. Four years later he won the country’s second medal, a gold again in Athens, Greece.

The Tokyo Paralympics Games official opening ceremony is on August 24, 2021 and the closing ceremony will be on September 5.

Vambe said they have to compete in Dubai considering it may be their last chance to try and get a slot at the Games considering the rising numbers of Covid-19 cases world-wide and travelling restrictions.

“We are encouraging our participants to continue training and to keep themselves safe, especially given that there is an increase in the number of people with the virus. But in terms of their paperwork and the travelling arrangements, I think we are now at an advanced stage.

“So we are just hoping that this time around we will be able to travel and participate because it looks like this is almost our last chance to get a slot for Tokyo. So we are just hopeful that we will be able to proceed,” Vambe said.

The chef de mission noted that while there is another event in Tunisia after the one in Dubai, it may be difficult to attend because of travel restrictions and flights challenges.