NAAZ awards back

By Magreth Ruzvidzo | Jan. 23, 2024

National Athletics Association of Zimbabwe

The National Athletics Association of Zimbabwe (NAAZ) national awards are returning after a more than 20-year sabbatical.The event will take place at a local hotel in the capital this Friday, with a number of athletes, coaches and officials set to be honoured for their outstanding performances last year.

NAAZ recently released their action packed 2024 calendar with the Baldmin Holdings triangular series first leg already booked for this coming weekend.NAAZ president Tendayi Tagara said the move was meant to appreciate the athletes for their hard work during the course of the year as well as motivating up-and-coming athletes.“As an organisation, we felt the obligation to honour our athletes who are both in Zimbabwe and abroad. The performance of our athletes based outside in 2023 was outstanding as reflected by the number of those nominated,” Tagara said.

“As an association, we are thriving for excellence and in 2024 we will also honour excellence at the end of the year including our coaches and officials.”Meanwhile, the association said it will use this weekend’s Baldmin Holdings triangular series set for the National Sports Stadium to select athletes for World Relays challenge.“We will come up with a long list of 15 men and 15 women to work and try to qualify for either 4x100m or 4x400m. The world relays will take place end of April in Bahamas and teams have to run a qualifying time to participate. We are targeting races in Zambia and Botswana because its near and we can travel by road due to limited resources,” Tagara said.

“All teams that qualifies to the world relays and run into the finals on the 4x100m or 4x400m will automatically qualify for the Olympics. Our worry, however, is that our best sprinters are based in the USA [United States of America] and to co-ordinate them during their athletics season is a challenge as they have to run for their universities to retain their scholarships which we understand and respect.”

Tagara also challenged local athletes to utilise this opportunity as invitations for the challenge have already been sent.“We are now challenging the local guys to show their worthiness. Remember the local guys are medallist in the last Africa Senior Champs which were held in Mauritius in 2022,” he said.

“So we want to thank Baldmin Holdings, led by Mr Takawira, for availing this opportunity at an early stage of the year; so we are inviting all local sprinters including juniors to attend.“Failure to attend is a disadvantage because coaches will be basing the selection on head to head. We want to make sure by end of day on Tuesday all entries are done to give technical officials time to prepare start lists.”

Shortlisted athletes, coaches and officials for 2023 NAAZ awards

Junior Women