Things fall appart (18-06-07)

s Association of Zimbabwe (NAAZ) president Joseph Mungwari last said the ten 20 member team failed to compete as this was the final selection platform for the World Youth Championships.
“They had a breakdown in Maputo and it was almost impossible for the team to get to the athletics venue on time after the bus had been fixed. We have to accept that mechanical faults happen even if you are using the best car on the road,” Mungwari said.
The World Youth Championships will be held in Ostarava in the Czech Republic next month
The team comprised specialists in the 100m, 200m, 4×100 and 4×400 relay events. In the girls section there was Thulisiwe Gengezha, Sarah Sibanda, Sukoluhle Mlalazi and Edzai Zhuwawo mainly for the 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay.
The 4x100m and 4x400m boys relay teams comprised of Michael Tapatsa, Real Gumindoga, Tapiwa Mutambisi and Romeo Mateke.
The trip came hard on the heels of the Africa Athletics Confederation (AAC) Southern Region Track and Field Championships that took place in Windhoek, Namibia two weeks ago where Zimbabwe came out with 13 medals, five of them gold.
Part of that team included Marvin Bonde, who won gold in the 100m final in a time of 10,38 secondshis personal bestNelton Ndebele, who also scooped a gold medal in the 400m final with a time of 46,23 seconds and Namatirai Mavugara who claimed a gold in the final of the women’s triple jump with a leap of 12,49 metres.
The other athletes included Chipo Pakarimwa, Chrispen Mutakanyi, Sandra Chimwanzaa silver medallist in the women’s 100m final with 12,12 seconds, Nobuhle Ncube who came third in the same race in 12.15 seconds, Gabriel Mvumvure, David Tinago and Enock Karimatsenga.
Mungwari said they would have loved to take 24 athletes to the All Africa Games in Algeria next month but that number had been cut down to 12 because of budgetary constraints.