Of the 25 players who were in camp, preparing for the
African Union Sports Council Region Five Youth Games, nine of the footballers
failed the Magnetic Resonace Imaging (MRI) scans, which were conducted this
week.
It’s a huge number given that it represents 36 percent of
the players who have been in camp, preparing for the tournament, set for Maseru,
in Lesotho, from next Tuesday.
It is also the latest blow to hit the Young Warriors, who
are only returning to action, after the humiliation they suffered, last year,
when they were thrown out of the COSAFA Cup, over age-cheating allegations.
However, ZIFA questioned their expulsion, from the
tournament, insisting their tests had given all the players the clearance to
feature in the regional tournament.
“The Zimbabwe Football Association received with great
disappointment, the correspondence from COSAFA to the effect that our Under 17
team has been disqualified from 2020 edition after one of the players failed a
Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) test,” the association said, in a statement,
shortly after the team’s expulsion.
“This is, indeed, surprising and questionable since we
carried out similar tests on the boys and disqualified six for failing to
satisfy the bone fusion criteria, taking only those determined to be of the
correct age.
“ZIFA does not condone age cheating and will conduct
further investigations on how the six, who were dropped, failed the tests.
“All the boys that travelled for the tournament were tested
at a reputable MRI centre in Harare prior to their departure and the centre
used a fairly powerful 1.5 T machine.
The MRI results were also reviewed by a Specialist
Radiologist, Dr Z Sirdar.
“Our chief medical officer Dr Edward Chagonda is also a CAF
certified medical officer.
“Our team doctor Dr Rabson Zhou who travelled with the team
has all the test results with him as proof.
“We have appealed against the CAF and COSAFA decision and
we are confident that we did not deliberately breach regulations governing the
Under-17 tournament.”
The saga eventually forced the Sports and Recreation
Commission to suspend ZIFA chief executive, Joseph Mamutse.
Exactly a year later, the controversy has reared its ugly
head again, with nine of the players, who have been in camp, failing the test.
The latest developments are likely to provide ammunition,
to those critics, who have kept saying there is something wrong, with the way
the country’s junior national football teams, are selected.
The football tournament at the regional Games is set to get
underway on Tuesday.
The Young Warriors technical team, led by coach Tafadzwa
Mashiri, were hoping to finalise the team on Thursday, after the scans.
However, they could not do so, after nine of the 25
players, failed the MRI scans.
Speaking to The Herald yesterday, Mashiri said they were
running around to find replacements, so that they can finalise the final 18
players, to travel to Maseru.
“Right now, we don’t have the final 18 but I think soon,’’
said Mashiri.
“We have a challenge with the MRI, so we have to replace
those that have been affected by the bone tests, the MRI scan.
“Nine players were affected, so we are left with 16
players.
“The way forward is to look at the players we had dropped,
then we follow them up, and we try to fill in the slots.
“So, we are busy with that process right now.’’
Mashiri this week said they were in a difficult situation,
since the Under-17 players have not been active, because of the Covid-19
pandemic.
“However, it must be noted that players were inactive for
the past two years due to the Covid-induced inactivity,’’ he said.
“So, it’s a very difficult situation that we find ourselves
in and schools were not operating so, basically, we can say these players were
not involved in fotball.
“But, the good thing is sport has been opened. “It’s an oportunity so that they can continue
with the career path and competing at these Games will give them the
international exposure. “It will give them the experience that is needed for
their development.
“Besides where we are coming from, the Covid-19 induced
hardships, it’s good finally they are taking part and we are grateful to the
Government for that.’’
Member-in-charge of media liaison and publicity for Team
Zimbabwe, Ranson Madzamba, said they were expecting the Covid-19 results, late
yesterday.
“We are closely working with our Team Zimbabwe medical
doctor and his team.
“We will receive the PCR results for the team by end of day
today and from there we will give an informed statement,” said Madzamba.
Zimbabwe will take on hosts Lesotho, Eswatini and
Madagascar in Group A.
Group B is made up of South Africa, Angola, Botswana and
Mauritius while Group C will feature Zambia, Malawi and Seychelles.
Zimbabwe will field both boys and girls teams at the Games.
In the girls’ category, Zimbabwe were drawn against Zambia,
Botswana and Comoros in Group A. The final team for the girls is still to be
finalised as well.
Group B is made up of South Africa, Mauritius and Namibia.
The football teams were expected to leave for Maseru today
but Madzamba said this will no longer be the case as they are required to
travel a day, or two days, before the start of competition.
Zimbabwe will compete in athletics, basketball, boxing
football, gymnastics, judo, netball, swimming, taekwondo, tennis and volleyball
at the regional games. Herald
0 comments:
Post a Comment