The Chronicle
Leonard Ncube, Online Reporter
VICTORIA Falls dominated the Hwange district National Association of Secondary School Heads (Nash) track and field inter-zonal competition held in Hwange on Thursday and Friday.
Heavy rains that fell in Hwange could not deter the athletes as there was a brief stoppage before the event resumed in the afternoon.
Victoria Falls scooped 31 gold, 27 silver and 19 bronze medals to emerge the winner with a whopping 77 medals.
Dete South was close to Victoria Falls’ neck with 74 medals; 31 gold, 34 silver, and nine bronze.
Hwange East was 3rd with nine gold, 10 silver, and 22 bronze, making a total of 41 medals followed by Hwange West which got 28 medals, being six gold, eight silver, and 14 bronze Dete North and Jambezi scooped equal 24 medals each.
Dete North scooped four gold, five silver, and 15 bronze while Jambezi got 10 gold, six gold, and eight bronze.
The two-day competition was held at Hwange Colliery Stadium.
They were a preparation for the provincial competitions to be held at Mosi-oa-Tunya High School in Victora Falls early next month, before the national Nash athletics finals to be hosted at Peterhouse College in Marondera on March 22 and 23.
National head-in-charge of athletics Roland Sibanda who is head for Mosi-oa-Tunya said the level of competition was high.
“There was stiff competition and the excitement is high as we prepare for the national finals to be held in Marondera at Peterhouse College on March 22 and 23. At some point the programme was disrupted by the rains that drenched and caused waterlogging on the field and we had to break for an hour to allow water to drain and ended up finishing at 4:30pm.
“The level of preparedness is exciting considering that we are post Covid-19 and people are very happy to be back in sport after
activities were stopped last year. So this was a build up to the provincial finals on 2 and 3 March and nationals later next month
where all 10 provinces will battle it out at Peterhouse College in Marondera,” said Sibanda.
Technical director for the competition in Hwange, Shisha Sibanda who is a teacher at Detema Secondary School in Dete said the event went well.
“This was an inter-zonal competition which is a build-up to the Hwange district for Nash. The two-day track and field events was made up of 16 year olds and Under, Under 17s and Under 20s and from here the winning teams will proceed to the provincial level where all the districts will clash at Mosi-oa-Tunya High School,” she said.
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Article Source: The Chronicle