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Nyasango, Pazani spearhead anti-doping education

Sport
THREE-TIME Olympian and celebrated long-distance runner Cuthbert Nyasango and Zimbabwe rugby sevens female team player and referee Precious Pazani were appointed Clean Sport ambassadors at the launch of the Unesco Anti-Doping Fund in Harare yesterday.

THREE-TIME Olympian and celebrated long-distance runner Cuthbert Nyasango and Zimbabwe rugby sevens female team player and referee Precious Pazani were appointed Clean Sport ambassadors at the launch of the Unesco Anti-Doping Fund in Harare yesterday.

BY MUNYARADZI MADZOKERE

Cuthbert Nyasango
Cuthbert Nyasango

The two are set to spearhead the anti-doping education drive in an initiative that will run under the auspices of the Africa Zone Six Regional Anti-Doping Organisation (Rado).

Nyasango said it was an honour to have been selected as an ambassador to advocate for clean sport in the country.

“It’s an honour, it shows that we have been doing the right thing, we have been following the rules, which is why we have been chosen to be clean sport ambassadors,” the 34-year-old athlete said.

“Education is an important factor so we plan to go to schools and every competition to try and advocate for clean sport. As the Athletes Commission from the athletics side we have already been trying to educate athletes about the dangers of doping and how it affects the country,” he added.

Nyasango, who is also the chairman of the National Athletics Association of Zimbabwe Athletes Commission, has been a top athlete for the past 18 years.

Supported by the International Olympic Committee’s Olympic Solidarity and the World Anti-doping Agency, the programme whose aim is to encourage athletes to take responsibility for the promotion of clean sport and educating about the dangers of doping in sports will take off in April.

Pazani (27) was taken a bit by surprise at her appointment.

“It is something that I didn’t imagine myself being part of as an ambassador. I have always strived to stay clean in my sport but I had never seen myself getting this kind of responsibility,” she said.

Rado board chairman Dr. Nicholas Munyonga presented the Clean Sport Ambassadors with certificates co-signed by Sports minister Makhosini Hlongwane and Zimbabwe Olympic Committee president Admire Masenda, who were part of the gathering.

Rado was put in place by the region to try and pool resources together in the fight against doping in sport.

The Unesco Anti-Doping Fund is sponsored to the tune of $20 000.

It is the second time that Zimbabwe is benefiting from the Unesco Fund after the first successful application back in 2014.

Unesco was satisfied with the way the funds from the first application were utilised, hence the decision to unveil another fund.