Sports and Recreation Commission acting director general Joseph Muchechetere
Sikhumbuzo Moyo, Senior Sports Reporter
TEAM Zimbabwe has paid the 50 percent accreditation deposit to Angola ahead of the December African Unions Sports Council Region Five Under-20 Youth Games.
The biannual Games will run from December 5-18 in Angola and Team Zimbabwe is leaving no stone unturned in their preparations, both administratively and technically, with the final team expected by the end of this month to allow for intensive training.
“We have already paid 50 percent of the deposit for our team which is $54 000 to Angola, then in terms of the team we are finalising it by the end of this month,” said the Sports and Recreation Commission acting director general Joseph Muchechetere.
The experienced administrator said the final meeting for the Chef De Missions will be held in Luanda from October 14-15.
“That is the time our team will be finally accredited as by that time we would have finalised in terms of who the athletes are and who the officials are, we have got a long list of athletes of about 260 which we will trim down as we finalise our accreditation,” said Muchechetere.
He said resources permitting, Zimbabwe will compete in all the disciplines on offer which is football, basketball, athletics, athletics for visually impaired, judo, gymnastics, swimming, boxing and tennis.
“We wish to field in every discipline but that position can be finally confirmed by the end of the month as we look at the total funding for our team.
“We are not just going there for a ceremonial appearance. We are going there to compete and get medals so we don’t just want to take mediocre athletes or those who are just promising, we want athletes who will win medals or finish in the finals.
“We will not just take a team for the sake of it but we will take a competitive team, which is going to fly our flag in terms of excellence,” said Muchechetere.
Venues for the sport codes have already been identified with athletics set to be held at Estadio dos Coqueiros, basketball at Pavilhao da Cidadela, the same venue for boxing and judo.
Netball will be at Codem, tennis at the Club Tenis de Luanda while Piscina de Alvalade will play host to swimming.
The African Union Sport Council Region5 (AUSC Region5) is the sports arm of the African Union.
It was formed in the 1960s, and its headquarters is based in Yaoundé, Cameroon.
The main aim of the AUSC is to use sports to achieve peace, integration and unity in Africa,that is, sport as a vehicle of encouraging people to develop and come together, irrespective of colour, economic status, political, class, or gender.
The AUSC divided Africa into seven competition zones due to the vastness of the continent and for financial prudence.
The main consideration was the countries’ geographical positions. It is from this that AUSC Region was born.
Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe are the members of the AUSC Region Five.
@skhumoyo2000.