Cheetahs off to Africa Games

RUGBY sevens team manager Tafadzwa Mhende says they are up for the challenge that lies ahead as the team left the country on Wednesday for the 13th edition of the African Games.

Ellina Mhlanga Senior Sports Reporter

The continental multi-sport event is currently underway in Accra, Ghana and runs until March 23, and rugby is one of the 10 sport codes Zimbabwe is competing in.

The rugby competition is expected to start early next week.

“We started training in September, so the guys are really eager to play.

“So, with rugby sevens, I think in Africa we are one of the best teams. So, we are definitely coming back with a medal. Hopefully, it will be gold.

“A medal is definitely coming through,” said Mhende.

Speaking before their departure , Mhende said indications are that several teams withdrew their participation, which affected the competition fixture.

The matches were initially expected to start on March 18.

“So there is a bit of a challenge there. We were supposed to start on the 18th but most of the teams withdrew their participation.

“So they are yet to publish the new fixture. But tentatively they are saying on the 19th.

“We were supposed to be 16 teams but right now there are only seven confirmed teams,” said Mhende.

The African Games will also be a platform for them to build-up for the Africa Cup.

And, Mhende said they are grateful for the opportunity since they did not have more games to look forward to this year.

“I would like to thank the Zimbabwe Government for giving us this opportunity because this year we didn’t have much of games to look upon.

“The African Games will be very crucial for our preparations for the Africa Cup because the Africa Cup then determines where we are in Africa.”

Rugby is one of the medal hopefuls for Team Zimbabwe at the Games.

In cricket, the Lady Chevrons have delivered as well as swimming, which has picked most of the medals so far for Team Zimbabwe.

Experienced player, Hilton Mudariki is confident of the team as he pointed out that they have been together for some time.

“We are looking forward to it. I think probably the first that we have been involved in this, so we are looking forward to the challenge.

“Preparations have been good, we started late last year after the Olympic Qualifiers that didn’t go our way. But we rectified a few mistakes from that tournament so we are hoping to do well in this coming one.

“It’s been good I think having participated in other big sporting tournaments or rugby tournaments, I think it puts us in a good state for this tournament. We know that we just have to take it one game at a time to reach the ultimate goal, which will be to bring a medal back,” said Mudariki.

They are not underrating any team going into this competition.

“I think it’s going to be tough, you can’t write off any team.

“So, for us, the most important game is the first game.

“For us to progress through we need to make sure that we win that first one.

“So we are just going to take it one game at a time and then see where we are going from there.

“The atmosphere has been great. We have been together for, this group of players, we have been together for maybe a year, a year and a half. So team chemistry has been there, we have been building up, we have had a couple of tournaments that has helped our team cohesion,” said Mudariki.

Meanwhile, the athletics team is expected to leave for Ghana today. Their competition is expected to start on Monday.