Naaz suspends 2 athletes

By The NewsDay | Oct. 6, 2015 | 2 Min read

THE National Athletics Association of Zimbabwe (Naaz) has suspended two athletes, Francis Zimwara and Kenneth Chibwana for misconduct at the African Games that were held in Congo Brazzaville.

BY KENNETH NYANGANI

Both athletes represented the country at the prestigious event.

Chibwana, a police officer, allegedly assaulted Luck Chitimbe, a fellow Zimbabwean athlete, who is visually impaired.

Chitimbe lost two teeth in the drama which happened in Kenya at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport when the athletes were on their way back home from the games.

The athlete was arrested by the Kenyan authorities on assault charges.

He is also reported to have declined to compete in the 200 metre track event.

His counterpart, Zimwara is accused of refusing to run in the 200m category before also refusing to wear the national team colours.

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Naaz president Tendai Tagara confirmed the development to NewsDay Sport yesterday, saying that they were still investigating the matter adding that the two are also set to appear before the association’s disciplinary hearing.

Tagara added the athletes would be given an opportunity to defend themselves.

“We have suspended Francis Zimwara and Chibwana for misbehaving at the African Games, pending investigations and disciplinary hearing,” he said. “I got it that Zimwara refused to run in the 200m category together with Chibwana. Zimwara also reportedly refused to wear national team colours, which are both serious offences. On the other hand Chibwana allegedly beat a fellow athlete, who lost two teeth at Jomo Kenyatta airport on their way back home,” he said.

“We do not condone violence, especially when on national duty. We expect senior athletes to show the best behaviour on an off the field. We are still investigating to establish what really happened. They will be given the opportunity to give their side of the story.”