The Sunday News
Sports Reporter
SOS Hermann Gmeiner Primary School in Bulawayo is basking in the glory of success after one of their athletes made it into the national primary schools team that took part in the Confederation of Schools Sports Association of Southern Africa (Cossasa) Games in Francistown, Botswana recently.
The pupil, Adiel Luvai, went on to scoop two medals at the regional competition held early this month.
He won a gold medal in the 100m hurdles and a silver medal in the athletics relay team.
Luvai was one of the five pupils from Bulawayo who were part of the Zimbabwean squad. Team Zimbabwe finished second at the competition after champions Namibia. Other participants were Lesotho, Zambia and hosts Botswana.
The Principal of SOS Hermann Gmeiner, Mrs Irene Sibanda, who accompanied the team to the neighbouring country, said she was pleased that the school’s athlete represented the country well.
“As a school we are happy with the performance of Adiel. Winning two medals at an international competition is a big achievement for the boy and the school. The experience was also wonderful and I enjoyed every minute of it, especially when they were announcing his name so that he can go to the podium and get the gold medal. Here was our own child getting the medal representing the country. It was very exciting,” she said.
The athlete added that the competition was tough but he had prepared well.
“It was tough but we had prepared well right from school when we were practicing for the inter-house competitions. I really enjoyed the trip,” he said.
Mrs Sibanda added that one of their pupils, Leeroy Moyo had made the grade into the national Under-14 rugby team.
“One of our boys has also been selected to the Zimbabwe Under-14 rugby team and will be part of the team training for upcoming competitions. We wish him well. In fact we have been doing well in sports as a school so far. We have been dominating in hockey and tennis as well. We try by all means to balance between academics and sports because we know some children might be gifted in sports and they can go all the way and earn a living from playing sports,” said Mrs Sibanda.
