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Ellina Mhlanga, Sports Reporter
NATIONAL Athletics Association of Zimbabwe director of coaching, talent identification and development, Lisimati Phakamile, is already looking into the future.

He says they need to prepare for a hectic year in 2021 if things get better.

A lot of events and programmes for this year had to be postponed and athletes were forced to stop training because of the coronavirus pandemic.

But, athletics, together with several other sport codes classified as low-risk, have been cleared by the Government for consideration to resume their activities under strict guidelines.

They have to first apply to the Ministry of Youth, Sport, Arts and Recreation, through the Sports and Recreation Commission, for approval to resume their activities.

Field events, for now, are prohibited.

For athletics, one of their main concern is qualification for the Olympics.

World Athletics are looking at a possible resumption of the qualification period in December but it will depend on whether the situation has improved.

“The plan is very simple, from now on . . . the whole of June, July, August up to December that’s basically six months.

“So, within these six months that’s the period where all coaches and the athletes have to redraft their training plans, redraw their programmes and wait for the competitions to come up and to be announced and we take it from there.

“We actually have a lot of work on our hands, we are going to have a very crowded programme or a very crowded calendar next year.

“So it’s very important that as coaches, we draw up plans, we draw up programmes that will accommodate that and make sure that our athletes have got the required base, the required fitness and are injury free to compete fully in the coming 2021 season,” said Phakamile.

He said although none of their athletes had qualified for the Olympics, before the outbreak of the pandemic, they have a good chance to pursue qualification taking into account the time they have between now, and the proposed date for resumption, of qualifying events.

“We are actually excited about the green light that we have received from the Government,” he said.

“We feel this is actually a good and positive move for our athletes to resume their training and to get back to their normal fitness.

“It’s very unfortunate that we had not had any athlete that had qualified by the time the lockdown was announced by the Government.

“But, we feel that we still have an extra five months from today up to the start of the qualification period to prepare and continue training,” Phakamile said.

Zimbabwe had a team of sprinters that included Ngoni Makusha, Tatenda Tsumba, Itayi Vambe and Dickson Kamungeremu training and competing in South Africa as part of the build-up to qualifiers before the suspension of activities in March.