Baseball association interim executive in place

Lovemore Zigara Midlands Correspondent
THE Zimbabwe Baseball Association has elected an interim board to run the affairs of the sport in the country until a substantive board is put in place. Morris Banda comes in as the new chairman while Innocent Mwoyosvi, who served as a board member responsible for development in the previous executive, is his deputy.

Joram Zifunzi and Sheila Chikovi come in as treasurer and secretary-general respectively.

Provincial chairpersons of the six baseball playing provinces of Harare, Bulawayo, Midlands, Mashonaland West, Manicaland and Masvingo are the other board members.

The new board takes over from the Mandishona Mutasa led interim executive which was booted out for failing to come up with a constitution and failing to spearhead the development of the game across the country.

Mwoyosvi said the board’s immediate task is to come up with a constitution to be registered with the Sport and Recreation Commission (SRC) as well as spreading the game to other provinces.

“The immediate task of this interim board is to come up with a constitution which will be registered with the (SRC) as well as spearheading the development of the sport across all the country’s provinces. We want to ensure that we once again become a powerhouse of the sport in the next two years,” he said.

Mwoyosvi said the interim board would soon move to Matabeleland North and Matabeleland South, Mashonaland Central and Mashonaland East provinces to set up structures to fulfil the mandate of spreading the game.

They are aiming at reviving the sport for women.

“We want to revive women’s baseball as well as coming up with a national league but resources are the major constraint. In order to raise the profile of the sport we’re also going to be participating in regional and international competitions.

“We’ve already been invited to take part in a provincial invitational tournament to be held in Gauteng, South Africa, in April,” Mwoyosvi said.

He said the association is also working flat out to ensure that they will make it at this year’s All-Africa Games to be held later this year in Congo-Brazzaville in September.