The hosts trailed behind neighbours, South Africa and Botswana who were at the first and second positions, respectively. With great strength on the field and track, South Africa dominated the event collecting 36 medals with 21gold, 10 silver and 5 bronze.
The president of the National Athletics Association of Zimbabwe, Joseph Mungwari, expressed great pleasure with the performance from local athletes describing the junior showdown as an opportunity especially for our juniors to prepare for the World Championships in Poland because we did not have any international competition for them. The event also exposed our officials to international competitions as far as the management of events like these is concerned giving them the much needed experience and they proved good, boasted Mungwari.
Mungwari commended the organizers of the tournament despite the harsh economic environment that we are operating under.
The countries present raced for honors despite the absence of Mauritius, Namibia and Seychelles, which were expected to be part of the regional tournament.
Zimbabwe is expected to field a team at the World Junior Championships set for Poland, in July, as well as the Zone Six Youth Games to be staged in South Africa, in October.
Post published in: Zimbabwe Sports News