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to be held in Gaborone, Botswana, this week.
The team left for Botswana yesterday morning led by coach Lisimati Phakamisa.
The championships are set to start on Thursday and will end on Sunday.
Some of the athletes in the team include up-and-coming sprinter Tinashe Mutanga, Zuva Bvekerwa, Cathrine Makaya and Faith Goremusandu.
However, the spotlight will be on Mutanga and Bvekerwa who were recently in the United States taking part in the Penn Relays competition.
The two will compete in the 100m and 200m events. Mutanga and Bvekerwa will also compete in the 4x100m and the 4x400m relay respectively.
Goremusandu will compete in the 800m event.
Team coach, Phakamisa, was confident his team will do well.
“We have experienced athletes such as Mutanga, Zuva and Goremusandu. We also have juniors who have been competing in international events for the past two years.
‘We expect Zuva to do well especially in the 200m event. Goremusandu has been to several international events and we hope she will do well in the 800m event.
“Most of them did well in the Zone VI games held in Swaziland last year.
“Other athletes that we will be pinning our hopes on include high jump athlete, Takudzwa Mhlanga and Sengezo Hlabangana who will be competing in the 800m event,” said Phakamisa.
Phakamisa said the championships present the up-and-coming athletes with an opportunity to learn, as most of them will be making their debut appearance in the championships.
“This is a very high magnitude event. Most of the athletes have not participated in a competition of such magnitude before.
“However, I am expecting the team to go there, compete to the best of their ability, enjoy the competition, learn a thing or two for future competitions.
“We hope to win one or two medals to show that we were there at the championships and raise the country’s flag high. This is the first time we are having the championships being held in this region,” said Phakamisa.
Team
Tinashe Mutanga, Zuva Bvekerwa, Dumisani Bhebhe, Takudzwa Mhlanga, Selby Mukutya, Lesley Makirimani, Sengezo Hlabangana, Trust Madoro, Jacob Mukomeri, Abdul Simbili, Dumezweni Dube, Thandiwe Nyati, Faith Goremusandu, Irene Ndoreka, Cathrine Makaya, Leona Musikavanhu, Thabeth Gwebu, Cara Tom.