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Ellina Mhlanga in Lagos, Nigeria
THE African Senior Athletics Championships get underway tomorrow with Zimbabwe fielding nine athletes and coach Lisimati Phakamile says he is going into the event with an open mind not just focusing on medals. The African Championships are running until August 5.

However, confusion reigned yesterday with the hosts failing to provide transport for the various arriving teams that needed to connect to Asaba from Lagos and among those teams is the Zimbabwe contingent which is now set to arrive in Asaba today.

Zimbabwe will be pinning their hopes on United States-based Tatenda Tsumba, who has been competing in Europe as part of his build up for the African meet as well as Rodwell Ndlovu, who is based in the South Africa.
They also have Ngoni Makusha among the seasoned athletes that have been to this stage before.

But Phakamile stressed the point that apart from winning medals there is need to look at other individual achievements.
“I would have loved to have more time with the team considering that some of them it’s their first time to get to this major competition. They need to be talked into understanding and believing in themselves that they can actually be the cause of disappointments of a lot of top guys in Africa and also they have a chance as individuals.

“The chances they have also, range from them clocking their best times, setting national records and at least getting into stages that are as high as the finals or even semi-finals if we may say considering that most of them are underdogs. So an underdog getting to finals or semi-finals is actually an achievement.

“So as a coach I might not be looking basically at the gold medals but achievements of an individual of the same athlete or of the country, personal best time, national record and something like that. So basically that’s what I am looking at without ruling out the chances of getting medals,” said Phakamile.

Tsumba was at the 2015 World Championships and went on to represent Zimbabwe at the 2016 Olympic Games in Brazil while Ndlovu, Makusha and Nyasha Mutsetse have been to the African Championships before.

The team also includes juniors, Leon Tafirenyika, Dickson Kapandura and Blessing Nyandoro. They are all making their maiden appearance at this level as well as Faith Dube and Maryjoy Mudyiravanji.

National Athletics Association of Zimbabwe president Tendai Tagara said the continental event is key to their 2020 vision hence the inclusion of the juniors.

“Dickson and Leon, that’s the future of athletics. We are building a team for 2020 Olympics around them, including (Norman) Mukwada for Tokyo. They must gain experience and confidence,” said Tagara.

Zimbabwe will only field athletes in the track events and Tagara said they still need to work on ensuring they also have athletes qualifying for field events.

“There were no qualifiers locally. We have young (Chengetayi) Mapaya in USA whom we think when he settles in USA he will do well,” said Tagara.

Mapaya got a gold medal at the African Junior Championships last year before he moved to the United States on a scholarship.

Team:
Nyasha Mutsetse (800m, 4x400m), Ngoni Makusha (100m, 200m, 4x100m), Dickson Kapandura (200m, 4x100m), Rodwell Ndlovu (200m, 400m, 4x400m), Leon Tafirenyika (400m, 4x400m), Tatenda Tsumba (100m, 200m, 4x100m), Blessing Nyandoro (400m), Faith Dube (200m, 400m), Maryjoy Mudyiravanji (800m).