Chronicle Editor
Innocent Kurira, Sports Reporter
ON a stringent budget, they went, they saw, though they did not conquer, Binga Academy put themselves on the local football map and took a lot of lessons from their participation at the recently held Mai Hondo Tournament at Sakubva Stadium in Mutare.
A total of 32 teams took part at the annual competition which has become one of the biggest youth tournaments in the country.
Binga Football Academy were participating at the tourney courtesy of an invitation in the annual competition together with teams from Chipinge, Buhera, Mutasa, Harare, Masvingo and Rusape.
In their pool games, Binga Pirates lost 1-0 to Mapao Academy from Harare.
They then drew one all with eventual winners of the tournament LA Sakubva and beat Faith Drive 1-0.
The results were enough to send them into the quarter-finals where they lost 2-0 to Sheckon Stars.
“We are happy that our boys were exposed to a lot of scouts from different teams. I felt the boys really did well. Such competitions can only aid in our growth,” said Binga Academy founder Pride Ngwenya.
In the end, it was an all Mutare final, both in the boys’ and girls’ categories.
Defending champions in the boys’ category, LA Sakubva successfully defended the title after a thrilling final against local city rivals, Sheckon Stars who were looking forward to winning the gong for the fourth time.
After settling for a 1-1 draw in regulation time, it needed a penalty shootout lottery for La Sakubva to take it home and for their coach, Timothy “Sicho” Masachi it was a good experience for his youngsters.
In the girls’ category, three-time champions Faith Drive Queens failed to defend their title as they lost 1-3 on penalties to Mutare City Rovers Queens which was led by their former assistant coach, Zenzele Musikavanhu. — @innocentskizoe
Online Reporter
Bongani Ndlovu