THE National Athletics Association of Zimbabwe (Naaz) is set to host six Southern Region countries in a national athletics competition at the National University of Science and Technology (Nust) on June 14 and 15.
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Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia, Lesotho and Swaziland will be taking part in the competition as part of the region’s preparation for the World Championships and African Senior Athletics Championships.
Naaz vice-president Enias Nhoro said although these were inter-provincial competitions they were expecting international athletes.
“We will be holding our inter-provincial championship at Nust on June 14 and 15. A number of countries have indicated their willingness to participate in the event,” Nhoro said.
“They want their athletes to prepare for upcoming events such as the African Senior Championships and the World Championships. The cut-off date for qualification is June 20,” he said.
Nhoro said the association would make use of an electronic timer which they hired from Botswana.
“They would not have come if we did not have an electronic timer. We are expecting over 400 athletes.
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“Since this is not a common competition, each province could be expected to bring two athletes per event so that we only have heats and finals,” he said.
The Naaz boss said they hope that athletes would qualify for the two competitions.
Already Michael Sengure has qualified in the 1 500m event. Zimbabwe has produced a number of top athletes who include Marvin Bonde, Lewis Banda, Brian Dzingai, Lloyd Zvasiya, Nelton Ndebele and Tatenda Goronga.
“We are also hoping to send a relay team because we would want to develop the athletes for bigger events,” he added.
Meanwhile, the association will be holding a number of officiating courses around the country in preparation for the Region V Under-20 Youth Games in December.
