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Ellina Mhlanga Sports Reporter
WITH less than a year to go before the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan, countries from across the globe are at various stages with their preparations.

And, the Zimbabwe Olympic Committee have short-listed a number of sport codes for next year’s Games.
They hope their athletes will meet the qualifying standards.

The targeted disciplines include aquatics (swimming), archery, boxing, cycling, equestrian, golf, judo, rugby sevens, shooting and rowing. Rowing qualified in the men’s singles scull event for Tokyo while the rest are still in the qualification process.

Seven athletes from athletics, equestrian, swimming and rowing received the Olympic Athletes Scholarships for the 2020 Games.

The programme is meant to assist elite athletes selected and proposed by the respective National Olympic in their preparation and qualification for the Games.

Funding for the programme is administered and managed by the Olympic Solidarity, which is the arm of the International Olympic Committee. The Zimbabwean athletes that benefited are Peter Wetzlar (swimming), long distance runners Rutendo Nyahora and Pardon Ndlovu, sprinter Ngoni Makusha, Camilla Ruth Kruger (equestrian) and rowing’s Stephen Cox and Daniela du Toit ZOC chief executive, Anna Mguni, said several partners have also come on board to support in the build-up to next year’s Games.

“Funding partners such as CBZ Bank, SeedCo and Mimosa have already pledged and provided financial support to the ZOC for Games preparations to date.

“The estimated team size is between 5 and 15, with the qualification period going right up to June 2020, it will be difficult to finalise before the end of the first quarter of 2020,” said Mguni.

In 2016, Zimbabwe had a team sport at the Games after the women’s football side made history by becoming the first team from this country to qualify for the Games.

Mguni said they have kept the rugby sevens team on the long list awaiting their second attempt to qualify at a repêchage event next year in June.