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Innocent Kurira, Sports Reporter
TWENTY-SIX Bulawayo athletes have applied for the government’s Covid-19 relief funds.

National sports associations have been applying for the government’s Covid-19 relief fund launched by the state to help alleviate athletes’ plight during the lockdown during which no sporting activity is taking place.

Last month, the government, through the Ministry of Youth, Sport, Arts and Recreation, launched a $10 million package to help athletes.

Bulawayo Athletics Board (Bab) chairperson Manuel Mpofu said the funds are meant to cushion athletes during this difficult period.

“We have 26 athletes who managed to apply and their forms were successfully submitted. We are just waiting for feedback, but we hope they will qualify for this fund, which will motivate them to keep on training awaiting resumption of activities.

“We wanted all our active athletes to apply, but only 26 managed to do it before the 31st of July 2020 cut/off date,” Mpofu said.

Meanwhile, preparations for the provincial championships set for the last weekend of September at White City Stadium remain on course.

This will be the first National Athletics Association of Zimbabwe (Naaz) event since sporting activities were halted in March.

“Our event will include 100m, 200m, 400m, 800m  and 5 000m. Our draft programme is in place and quotations for fumigation chemicals, infra ref thermometer and sanitisers  have been done,” said Mpofu.

@innocentskizoe