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Cash prizes for Region 5 Youth Games medallists

Sport
ZIMBABWE’S medallists during the recently concluded 2014 Africa Union Sports Council Region V Under-20 Youth Games were presented with cash incentives

ZIMBABWE’S medallists during the recently concluded 2014 Africa Union Sports Council Region V Under-20 Youth Games were presented with cash incentives, the Sports and Recreation Commission’s corporate communications officer Tirivashe Nheweyembwa said yesterday.

DANIEL NHAKANISO SPORTS REPORTER

Zimbabwe finished second on the overall medals standings after amassing 93 medals, 18 of them gold medals with South Africa finishing top of the medals standings after winning 121 medals including 64 gold medals.

Third-placed Angola had 20 medals in the regional sporting showcase.

Nheweyembwa, who was also Team Zimbabwe’s deputy chéf de mission administration of the games, said athletes who won medals for Zimbabwe had already been awarded their cash incentives.

“The athletes have already been given their incentives for winning medals at the games. We had set them at $300 for the gold medals, $200 for sliver and $100 for bronze and that was over and above the daily allowances. It’s not much, but it’s a way of saying thank you to the athletes for doing well for the country,” Nheweyembwa told NewsDay Sport yesterday.

Nheweyembwa said although the team didn’t manage to reach their initial target of 40 gold medals, they were happy with the team’s overall perfomance.

“We are satisfied with the team’s overall perfomance even though we didn’t manage to reach our initial target of 40 medals. However, if you consider the stiff the competition that prevailed and the fact that we managed to win a medal in all the disciplines we took part in you will realise that the team did very,” he said.

“The netball team’s golf medal triumph was particularly impressive because they returning to the Region V Games for the first time since 2010. Four years ago they did not win a medal in Swaziland but this time they managed to win a gold medal by beating South Africa. The judo team also did well as this was their first appearance while the athletics team for the visually impaired also really came up to the party.”

Nheweyembwa also praised the performances of the team sports namely basketball (both men and women) and men’s football, but said he was worried with the regression of the women’s team, which only managed a bronze after winning gold two years ago in Zambia.

With Angola set to host the next edition of the Games in 2016, Nheweyembwa said they were mooting the idea of fielding a national team at the National Youth Games to be hosted by Manicaland next year.

“We need to maintain the high standards we set in Bulawayo, which is why we plan to start our preparations for the next Region V Games early. There are already plans to field a Team Zimbabwe across different disciplines at the National Youth Games in Manicaland so that by the time the team for the 2016 Region V Games is selected we will already have an idea of the athletes who are doing well.”

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