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Collin Matiza Sports Editor
HARDLY a week after being part of the Zimbabwe men’s 4x100m relay team that broke a 12-year-old national record, doors to international stardom have opened for two of the country’s promising sprinters Ngonidzashe Makusha and Tatenda Tsumba who have been invited to participate in five high profile track and field meetings in The Netherlands and Belgium in May and June.

Last Saturday, Makusha and Tsumba joined forces with Itayi Vambe and Dickson Kamungeremu at the Lefika Athletics Club Relays and Hurdles Event in Gaborone, Botswana, where they wrote their own piece of history by setting a new national record when coming first in the 4x100m relay in 38.95 seconds.

This saw them qualifying for the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) World Relays Championships to be held in Yokohama, Japan, in May.

The quartet’s winning time also bettered the previous 4x100m national record of 39.16 seconds set by Ngonidzashe Makusha, who is now based in United States and not related to the other Makusha and namesake who is in the current team, Gabriel Mvumvure, Brian Dzingai and Lewis Banda at the 2007 All-Africa Games (now African Games) in Algeria.

And Zimbabwe men’s 4x100m relay team’s recent feat in Gaborone caught the attention of a number of top athletics agencies, including former Zimbabwean sprinter and Olympian, Lloyd Zvasiya, who has now engineered a move for two of the team’s members, Makusha and Tsumba, to go and compete in five track and field meetings in The Netherlands and Belgium next month.

They will be joined there by another promising Zimbabwean athlete Panashe Majuru, who is a 400m specialist and a 110m hurdler.

In fact, after learning about the Zimbabwe men’s 4x100m relay team’s feat in Gaborone last Saturday night, Zvasiya, who is based in the UK, immediately got in touch with Peter Wolters, the director and head coach of the Dutch-based Milers Foundation, who invited the trio of Makusha, Tsumba and Majuru to compete in five international track and field meetings in that country and in Belgium between May and June this year.

Started in 2015 with the ambition of Sanne Wolters-Verstegen to run 1’59” in the 800m, the Milers Foundation was set up to create a full-time training environment with appointed head coach Wolters.

And according to the invitation letters sent to Makusha, Tsumba and Majuru by Wolters on Wednesday this week, the three Zimbabwean athletes have been invited to first compete in the Ter Specke Bokaal track and field meet at Lisse, Netherlands, on May 18.

They will then move on to Oordegem, Belgium, for the International Flanders track and field meet scheduled for May 25 and five days later the Zimbabwean athletes are expected to compete in the Harry Schulting Games in Vught, Netherlands.

Another international track and field meet — Putbos Meeting — awaits Makusha, Tsumba and Majuru in Oordegem, Belgium, on June 2 before they wind up their tour of Europe by competing in the Gouden Spike meet in Leiden, Netherlands, on June 9.

Speaking to The Herald yesterday, Zvasiya, who is based in the UK, said as a former top Zimbabwean sprinter, he just wanted to help his fellow countrymen to realise their dreams of becoming top international track and field stars.

But Zvasiya said Makusha, Tsumba and Majuru will have to raise their own air fares for the trip to Europe while food, accommodation and other expenses will be catered for by their hosts Milers Foundation.

“It looks like the guys will first go and compete at the 2019 IAAF World Relays, which will be held in Yokohama, Japan, from May 12 to May 13 and I think instead of flying back to Zimbabwe after this competition, they should connect to The Netherlands where they will be hosted by the Milers Foundation from May 17 to June 10,” Zvasiya said.

Makusha, Tsumba and Majuru have all been cleared by the National Athletics Association of Zimbabwe to tour Europe between May and June this year.