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Kusile Madlela Sports Reporter
WHITE City Stadium will today host a track and field inter-provincial athletics meet. Bulawayo Athletics Board chairperson Manuel Mpofu said athletes would use this event to prepare for upcoming international competitions.

“We’ve the World Youth Championships (Cali, Colombia in July), All Africa Games (Brazzaville, Congo in September), Southern Region Senior Championships (July) and World Senior Championships in August. So the athletes will be looking to improve their times so they can qualify for the events. White City is the venue of choice this year and so is Bulawayo, which has now become the home of athletics,” said Mpofu.

He said athletes that are not part of provincial teams would be allowed to compete so that they can also try and qualify for national and international competitions.

“There will be athletes outside of the regional teams who will be permitted to compete in the track and field events tomorrow (today). If these athletes manage to clock the qualifying times, they’ll be automatically drafted into the respective teams. We expect tight competition between the provincial teams as the coaches will also use this event to choose teams for the National Youth Games taking place in Mutare this year,” he added.

Mpofu said some teams from around the Southern African region have sent teams to participate in the track and field events. “Some teams from South Africa, Botswana, Zambia and Mozambique will be coming to Bulawayo. When we last spoke to them, they expressed a desire to be part of the competition and we’re looking forward to hosting them. This will be good for our athletes to face stiff competition from neighbouring countries,” said Mpofu.