Battle to dethrone Mutare Board and Paper Mills

PPC Bulls women’s team in action preparing for the Ingwebu Tug-of-war challenge at ZITF later this month

Mzingaye Sibanda Sports Reporter
MUTARE Board and Paper Mills’ dominance of the Ingwebu Breweries-bankrolled ZITF Tug-of-War national championships comes under scrutiny in Bulawayo today.
The Mutare-based team has dominated the competition for the past 10 years with their name engraved on the trophy almost every year.
Zimbabwe Tug-of-War Federation president Batsirai Frank said all the clubs are determined to challenge for the ultimate prize.
“Everything is in place for the competition, the teams have prepared well. Most of them will be trying hard to wrest the title away from Mutare Board and Paper Mills who have been dominating for a long time,” said Frank.

Mutare Board were one of the four teams which were seeded after reaching the last four last year with others being Ingwebu, Delta Beverages and GMB Bindura during the draw last week.

Hwange Colliery, Bulawayo City Council, How Mine FBC, CBZ Holdings, Zesa Bulawayo, Silo, PPC Wolves and Matopos Rotary Club are some of the teams taking part in this year’s edition.

This year’s competition will feature women’s teams.
Hwange Colliery, Mambo Stars, CBZ, GMB Bindura, Mutare Board Paper Mills, BCC, Delta, How Mine and Zesa Gweru are the women’s teams taking part in the competition.

Ingwebu Breweries have poured $30,000 into the tournament.
The winners of the competition will walk away with $1,800, runners-up $1,400, the losing semi-finalists $700 each while the losing quarter-finalists will get $400 apiece.

The competition starts at Gifford High School in the morning with the top two teams in each group proceeding to the main event at ZITF.
Group A:
Mutare Board A, FBC A, How Mine C, Zesa Bulawayo C, Silo A, ZPC Munyati, Zesa Bulawayo B, CBZ A, CBZ B

Group B:
Delta A, ZPC Munyati B, Mutare Board B, ZPC Hwange A, ZimSteel B, BCC A, Zimsteel A, TelOne, Delta C, CBZ C

Group C:
Ingwebu A, How Mine B, Silo B, Delta B, Hwange Colliery, Zesa Bulawayo A, ZPC Hwange B, How Mine A, PPC Wolves B.

Group D:
GMB Bindura, PPC Wolves, GMB Bindura B, Matopos Rotary, Chloride hexode, BCC B, FBC B, Ingwebu B