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Ellina Mhlanga, Harare Bureau

AS the African Games draw closer, Zimbabwe’s chef de mission Eugenia Chidhakwa says they have put in place mechanisms to ensure the smooth flow of the preparations by the team.

The continental showpiece will run from August 16 to 31 in Morocco. 

Zimbabwe are going to compete in 12 sporting disciplines – archery, athletics, chess, cycling, equestrian, judo, shooting, swimming, taekwondo, tennis, triathlon and beach volleyball out of the 27 on offer. 

Out of the 12 disciplines, Zimbabwe will fielding athletes in 10, and they are all Olympic qualifiers, except chess and equestrian. 

Speaking on the sidelines of a team building workshop held for Team Zimbabwe yesterday at Prince Edward School, Chidhakwa said they would want another positive story from the continental Games. 

She is set to leave for Morocco tomorrow together with deputy chef de mission administration, Memory Pakati, for a meeting starting on Thursday that will address various issues including athletes’ information. 

“The African Games Team Zimbabwe is making all efforts to make sure that the Morocco Games become a success and good storyline for Zimbabwe. 

“We announced Team Zimbabwe end of July and from there we have been meeting national sport associations every Tuesday, tracking them on their state of preparedness and making sure that they have submitted, through us, the correct information for accreditation. 

“We have done the final accreditation with the sporting disciplines and per event that we have submitted. 

“But they still want us to have a meeting on the 8th up to the 12th before the athletes come to confirm that they have captured the correct athletes, the correct events and we pay for the correct days,” said Chidhakwa. 

Chidhakwa said instead of a group camp for the whole team, the different sport disciplines will continue with their programmes at their respective bases since they were going to leave for Morocco on different dates depending on each sport code’s competition schedule. 

“Initially we wanted to do a group camping starting from today (yesterday) up to the 15th. 

“We had planned that we are going to do a group team travelling on the 15th except for beach volleyball and judo who are going early. 

“But, then, they (hosts) informed us that because they got to host at a later stage, they are saying each event that is coming for competition, they should come three days before competition and make sure that they go two days after,’’ said Chidhakwa. 

Yesterday’s workshop, which came ahead of today’ send-off for the team, was officially opened by Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Youth, Sport, Arts and Recreation Thokozile Chitepo, who urged athletes and officials to utilise the opportunities that come with competing at such Games.  

“The Games are essential in profiling and selling brand Zimbabwe to the African continent as well as build our sporting competitiveness and high performance structures. 

“It is also our strong view that this event is a platform to exchange ideas and notes on a range of issues and an opportunity for our sport leaders to learn the latest trends in sport management and administration,” Chitepo said. 

Judo and beach volleyball are expected to leave early as their events starting on August 16.