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Tadious Manyepo-Sports Reporter
FOR Kudakwashe Chiwandire’s father, Morris, recent events have all been surreal.
“It’s like I have been dreaming,” he exclaimed. But reality has sunk in and tonight, he will stream live as his eldest child writes her own piece of history. Kudakwashe (or Kuda) Chiwandire faces-off against Zambia’s Catherine Phiri in the World Boxing Council (WBC) interim bantamweight title showdown at the New Lusaka Government Complex tonight.
She is the first Zimbabwean boxer to ever contest for the most revered and best-ranked crown in the world. For good measure, only her opponent has won this belt out of the female lot of boxers in Africa. And her father, Morris, has every reason to celebrate, hours before he can witness history being made by his own blood. The harsh conditions, he couldn’t help, which he raised Kuda under, the misfortunes she fell into which resulted in her failing to write her Ordinary Level examinations and all the sorts make him a proud father when he recalls while dropping his head.
“Kudakwashe Memory Chiwandire was born on February 4, 1996, in Mbare. That’s where we used to stay back then.
“We raised her in Highfield where she attended her primary school at Nyandoro before moving to Mukai High School until she was Form 2.
“Things were never rosy for me. We survived from hand to mouth and she would help us out in our sole source of income – street vending.
“After school, she would turn to be our main person at the vending stall and she was very honest with the money. That is how we raised her and her siblings,” Morris said. And Kuda was a sportsperson who liked football a lot with her talent winning her a scholarship to Lord Malvern High School, turning out for ACES Youth Soccer Academy before she enrolled, thanks to her talent, at Vainona High School.
“By then she was already playing for one of the women’s football giants, Cyclone Queens, and she was destined for greatness given the work ethic she was throwing in the game.”
But somehow, she wouldn’t see off her studies at Vainona.
“It was at that point that she fell pregnant. I am saying this so that other girls out there who may fall into the same predicament can still rise up from the disappointment and still realise their dreams.
“It was hard for us, as parents, to accept but look, she is our daughter and we had to stand by her. She went back to the game after giving birth and we supported her so much,” Morris said. A talented, speedy winger, who rubbed shoulders with the likes of former Mighty Warriors player Nyasha Munemo while playing for Cyclone Queens, Kuda decided to quit the game after failing to make it into the Mighty Warriors squad.
“It was a huge disappointment for me to be overlooked for the national team. Growing up, all I wanted to do was to represent my country at one point in my life.
“But after being overlooked, I just decided to hang up my boots and concentrate on individual sport,” said Kuda.
That was when she decided to venture into karate where she would distinguish herself, winning gold medals in regional tournaments with her greatest recognition being voted the Annual National Sports Awards (ANSA) Sports Woman of the Year second runner-up in 2017.
That is how she met her current boxing coach/manager Clyde Musonda.
Meanwhile, Kuda, who is now a mother of three, had transformed herself into a professional hairdresser – her main source of income up to now. Her soft-spoken mother, Edina (nee Makunya), said she needed to be her own woman and the family decided to also support her in her hairdressing profession.
“While selling our wares at the vending stalls, Kuda always showed an interest in hairdressing. We then decided to help her attain some qualifications while she kept on playing sports,” she said.
“She has been able to help us as a family and help her own kids out of this profession.”
But as soon as she met Musonda, Kuda’s focus changed.
“I convinced her to consider boxing. At first she didn’t like the idea,” said Musonda.
“But I would like to thank her parents who advised her to try her hand in it. I am the one who started training her basic boxing. She was surprisingly very quick at grasping the concepts, the combinations and in no time she was making waves at different amateur tournaments.
“I then decided to turn her professional around 2018-2019.” Kuda would have a stint at the Charles Manyuchi Boxing Academy under which she became a WIBA champion before retracing her footsteps back to Musonda’s stable, Deltaforce.
“I have undergone a lot in my life, the hardships, the struggles, everything. I am now facing history and I have to change my entire story in this fight against Catherine Phiri at her own backyard. My family, my friends, neighbours, fans, compatriots, all of them should be proud of me. My story has to change on Saturday (tonight),” said Kuda.
Online Reporter