The Sunday Mail
ZIMBABWE has resolved not to send a table tennis team to the 11th edition of the All-Africa games to be held in Brazzaville, Congo next year as the country seeks to avoid further embarrassment on the international stage.
The country does not need to qualify for the games.
President of the Zimbabwe Table Tennis Union John Muringani says lessons from the 2011 edition, where locals bowed out at the first hurdle, counsel that resources were better invested at the base.
“We have a weak national team and don’t intend to participate at the next All-Africa Games,” said Muringani.
He revealed that the union has devised a developmental program that will see them channelling more resources to the grassroots.
“We have selected players with potential to meet every fortnight so that we provide them with the expert training and help in developing their skills. They will train for four hours at Prince Edward School and we will also look at how best we can expose them to international competitions so that we come up with strong teams in all age groups.
“The programme will cater for all national teams from Under-10s up to the senior team and we will start expecting results from 2016. I believe we would have done enough team building by then,” he said.
Muringani disclosed that his union is also looking at sending the Under-10s and 12s for a coaching programme called Hopes, which is usually held in Europe, as a way of sharpening the youngsters’ skills.
He added that the juniors will be entered into next year’s Africa Championships.
