Athletes Laina Sithole and Shepherd Gumede both secured qualification for next year’s Paralympics after attaining "A" standards at the 2015 African Games, which were held in Congo’s capital Brazzaville in September.

The Rio-bound pair and 11 other hopefuls recently concluded a one-week training camp in Zimbabwe’s capital Harare.

As part of efforts to fine tune its athletes ahead of the Paralympic Games, the ZNPC has said it will be staging monthly camps.

Elliot Mujaji was the last athlete from Zimbabwe to win a Paralympic medal, claiming gold in the men's 100 metres T46 at Athens 2004, defending the title he won at Sydney 2000.

Michael Bulagango, the ZNPC head, is now banking on the nation's current crop of athletes to emulate Mujaji’s success.

"Like any other team anywhere in the world, we as the Paralympic Committee are trying to prepare our athletes for this big competition where they have to show themselves how they can fare against the best athletes in the world," he told The Herald, Zimbabwe’s largest daily newspaper.

"But before we get to that podium, we have to make sure that we prepare this team adequately so that we are assured of gold medals.

"As part of the Paralympic Movement, we have been starved for quite some time of the gold medals.

"The last time it was in 2004 and we cannot continue to be quiet, so we are trying to prepare our athletes with ongoing training camps.

"We have got confirmation from the International Paralympic Committee that Laina Sithole and Shepherd Gumede have already qualified.

"The rest of the teams will have to go through another qualifier and make sure we have more athletes and also, we are not focusing on Rio 2016 only, but also Tokyo 2020 and beyond.

"So we have a combination of athletes with some focusing on the other competitions to come."

The 19-year-old Sithole has qualified for Rio 2016 in the 100m and 200m T13, while Gumede has done so in the 400m T13 and is also looking to secure a spot in the 200m.

Athletics coach Shadreck Chatunga said Sithole and Gumede will undergo an intensive training programme for at least three weeks in January. 

This will be on top of the monthly camps, which Chatunga hopes will help all athletes regardless of whether they have qualified for Rio 2016 or not.

"We are glad we have at least two athletes in the 'A' standard and we are working with the others, so that they get the same standard," he said.

"We have brought them in camp so that they improve on their times, and our focus is on gold medals.

"We have 13 other athletes in camp and they will be involved in a series of programmes locally and international competitions so that they qualify as well."