Coventry honoured at historic Region 5 Games

04 Dec, 2022 - 00:12 0 Views
Coventry honoured at historic Region 5 Games Minister Coventry

The Sunday Mail

Tadious Manyepo in LILONGWE, Malawi

YOUTH, Sport, Arts and Recreation Minister Kirsty Coventry has earned another feather in her cap.

The iconic athlete has been inducted into the Africa Union Sports Council (AUSC) Region 5 Hall of Fame.

The recognition, which saw five other legendary athletes from Southern Africa, including Mozambique’s Maria Mutola, being honoured, came during the official opening ceremony of the ongoing AUSC Region 5 Games at the Bingu National Stadium here on Friday night.

Coventry was not there and her certificate was received by the director of sport and recreation in her ministry, Eugenia Chidhakwa.

Coventry is a world and Olympic swimming champion, and the most decorated Olympian in Africa with seven Olympic medals.

She is currently a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

In early 2018, she was elected chairperson of the IOC Athletes’ Commission, the body that represents all Olympic athletes worldwide.

Meanwhile, the AUSC Region is celebrating a huge milestone at a time the world is advocating gender balance in sport.

For the first time since the inaugural edition of the Region 5 Games in 2004, there are more female participants than males this year.

Out of a total of 1 280 athletes drawn from 13 countries, there are 646 girls and 634 boys, meaning females are 2 percent more than their opposite sex.

Encouragingly, Zimbabwe, who have 205 athletes in Malawi, have contributed 131 girls and 74 boys. Speaking after attending the Council of Ministers meeting on Friday, Deputy Minister of Youth, Sport, Arts and Recreation Tino Machakaire hailed the stance taken by the country.

“For a long time, Zimbabwe has been lagging behind in terms of gender balance in sport. But, this time around, the number of girl athletes we have sent to the Region 5 Games is almost double that of boys,’’ said Machakaire.

“This is a right step in the intended direction, if I may say so.

“We need to create opportunities for girls and we hope they will also be able to learn and perfect their act during these games.

“We are fully behind these athletes and we hope they will bring medals for the country.

“But, most importantly, these games are for learning and integration purposes.

“We are building the future Kirsty Coventry, the future Pretty Tinarwo and the future Charles Manyuchi.

We should be focused.’’

Chairperson of the AUSC Region 5, Stanley Mutoya, said the Games are the epitome of young talent in Southern Africa.

“The Region 5 Games are not just an event. The Games are a showcase of the Southern Africa’s version of the Africa we want, an epitome of our rich Southern African culture, a meeting place of youth excellence and exuberance personified in a rich Southern African pride and heritage,’’ said Mutoya.

“The games are a pedestal upon which Southern African sporting ambassadors stand tall with pride and dignity, announcing their arrival to the world with pride and dignity.

“As an organising committee, we had the unenviable task of organising the games on behalf of Southern Africa, making Malawi the lens through which the world would view Southern African sport.”

Through the games, he said, the region has seen stars emerge from very humble beginnings to being legends.

Caster Semenya, Chad de Clos and Wayde Van Niekerk of South Africa have been part of the rich cast of sports stars that partook in the Region 5 Games.

The list also includes Zambians Collins Mbesuma and Partson Daka, who is currently playing for Leicester City in the English Premier League.

From Botswana, there is Nigel Amos and also Naomie Ruele.

Donata Katai of Zimbabwe and recently Christine Mboma, a 2020 Olympic silver medallist from Namibia, were also part of the games.

Zimbabwe are fielding contestants in athletics, basketball, boxing, gymnastics, judo, netball, swimming, taekwondo, tennis, eSports and volleyball.

The country has already bagged three bronze medals in taekwondo, with more sport codes set to begin today.

The boys’ basketball team opened their campaign with a 68-55 defeat to Mozambique yesterday.

Both girls’ and boys’ Under-16 teams are also using the games as qualifiers for the Afrobasket championships to be staged next year.

Coach Tapiwa Mungunyana, however, saw his charges fall short in their opener against the continental giants.

The Zimbabweans appeared to push their opponents into defensive mode in the early stages of the first quarter.

But they committed too many mistakes, failing to score points when they were dominating territory.

And they were bound to be punished for that.

Mozambique quickly took the initiative, finishing the first quarter 16-10 up.

Zimbabwe never recovered from that initial setback, eventually losing the game.

The girls’ team was scheduled to face Malawi late in the evening.

Both teams will continue with their campaigns today.

Zimbabwe’s Under-20 netball team, Young Gems, are playing their opener today against Zambia, with taekwondo also continuing.

Boxing is expected to start today.

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