Sports and Recreation Commission (SRC) director-general Charles Nhemachena has expressed optimism that the team to represent Zimbabwe in the All Africa Games in Mozambique next month will surpass past achievements the country has posted in the games over the years.
Zimbabwe is among the African countries sending athletes to the African showcase which will run from September 3-18.
In the last Games that were staged in Algeria, Zimbabwe came eighth and bagged 23 medals, seven gold, eight silver and eight bronze medals with top swimmer Kirsty Coventry being the main toss of Zimbabwe’s campaign.
In an interview with NewsDay Sport in Gwanda on the sidelines of the National Youth Games, on Wednesday Nhemachena expressed optimism that the team would perform well and bag medals for the country.
“The team that was announced is very strong. I believe that we will be able to surpass our past performances as we came number eight in the last All Africa Games and got medals for the country,” he said.
“Our concern in the past is that we have been relying on a specific athlete like Kirsty Coventry. But relying on one athlete is undesirable.
“It is better now because we have athletes like Ngoni Makusha, and the likes of Gabriel Mvumvure and we have the Mighty Warriors whom we really expect will do well in the games,” he said.
He said they were expecting all teams to do their level best against other countries.
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“Competition is going to be very stiff but we hope that the athletes will justify being given an opportunity to represent the country as well as making an impact in their professional careers,” he said.
Zimbabwe will fight for honours in sporting disciplines which include athletics, basketball (women), boxing chess, cycling, football (women), judo, karate, sailing, swimming, among others.
The team goes into camp in Harare on Monday in preparation for the Games before their departure for Mozambique on September 1.
