Zimbabwe wins Cossasa Arthur Maphosa
Arthur Maphosa

Arthur Maphosa

Ricky Zililo, Senior Sports Reporter
TEAM Zimbabwe won the 2018th edition of the Confederation of School Sports Associations of Southern Africa (Cossasa) Ball Games, securing 11 gold medals at the youth sports festival that ended in Namibia on Sunday.

Six countries took part in the tournament which ran from August 23-26 in Windhoek.

Two age-groups, the Under-13s and Under-17s, represented Zimbabwe at the regional games and collected a total of 13 medals consisting of 11 gold, one silver and one bronze.

Gold medalists were the boys’ and girls’ Under-13 volleyball teams, Under-13 boys’ soccer side, Under-13s boys’ and girls’ tennis teams, boys’ and girls’ Under-17 volleyball sides, Under-17 girls’ and boys’ basketball teams and the Under-17 boys’ and girls’ tennis teams.

The Under-13 boys’ sevens rugby team won silver, while the girls’ Under-17 netball outfit got bronze to complete a fruitful tour of duty for Team Zimbabwe.

National Association of Secondary School Heads acting president Arthur Maphosa was happy with Zimbabwe’s sojourn and appealed for government and the corporate world’s support for future regional competitions.

“Cossasa Games are on the verge of getting recognition from the African Union sports section and as such, it is important that as a country we are involved in continental games. The netball team that qualified for the World Cup has five players that went through the Cossasa mill.

“We are appealing to the relevant government ministries and the corporate world to fund us so that we give children equal opportunities to participate in sport. We had to leave some sporting disciplines because of lack of funding,” said Maphosa.

“In essence, Cossasa is a very good opportunity for development. Schools’ sport is the real part of grooming talent. It needs funding in both money and skills personnel.

“The teachers who coach the children as well as the Nash and Naph leaders that attend capacity development programmes need support,” he said.

Medals table

Country    Gold    Silver    Bronze    Total
Zimbabwe    11    1    1    13
Namibia    7    12    1    20
Lesotho    0    1    1    2
South Africa    0    1    0    1
eSwatini    0    0    0    0
Malawi    0    0    0    0

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