Innocent Kurira, Sports Reporter
OVER 800 athletes attended yesterday’s track and field meet organised by the Bulawayo Athletics Board (Bab) in partnership with Payne Global Sports International at Nust.

The event was sponsored by the United States-based trio of Arnold Payne of Global Sports International, Lewis Banda, the current Zimbabwe 400m record holder and Ndabezinhle Mdlongwa, the national triple jump record holder.

Payne Global Sports International was scouting for talent for United States scholarships.

Scholarships will be awarded to athletes that impressed in the meet and part of the ongoing athletics season.

Athletes should have the required five O-Level passes to be considered.

Athletes took part in the 100m, 200m, 800m, 1 500m, 3 000m, 10 000m, mixed relays and the four-minute mile qualifiers.

Field events included long jump, triple jump, shot-put, javelin and discus.

Payne said there was no limit to the number of athletes that could get scholarships.

“Firstly, I would like to thank Nust for the use of their facilities; the administrators have done a good job in organising this meet. Going to the performances, the athletes have shown much potential, but there is lots of hard work still to be done.

“They need to up their intensity level as far as their work load is concerned if they are to compete at regional and international level.

“We remain committed to helping identify athletes for future development and we hope for better collaboration with associations and colleges to                unearth gems like what we did with Lewis Banda in 2003.

“We have no specific number of people we want, it could be 50, 30 or two people, as long as they meet the required standard,” said Payne.

Payne, who is the country, is a former Zimbabwe 400m record holder, who also represented the country at the All-Africa Games, Commonwealth Games and World Championships.

He heads the Payne Global Sports Division, which seeks to provide a platform for promising athletes to advance their talent and academics in the United  States.

In 2016, Payne brought Texas Christian University-based top track and field coach, Darry Anderson, who conducted several coaching clinics in the city.

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