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Michael Magoronga, [email protected]
TUG of War International Federation (TWIF) board member Antony Bortha has implored African countries to take Tug of War seriously as a sport which comes with a number of economic development opportunities for the countries.
Bortha, who is also South Africa Tug of War president made the remarks on the sidelines of the just ended 10th edition Africa Tug of War Championships which took place in Victoria Falls over the weekend.
Only four countries, Zambia, Ghana, South Africa and the host Zimbabwe attended the competitions out of a possible 18 countries with the rest citing sponsorship challenges.
About 23 clubs, 18 of them from Zimbabwe from four African countries, gathered at Chinotimba Stadium in the resort town where they battled it out in the club and national challenges.
Both the clubs and national competition saw exhibition of strength and strategy in the 520kg and 560kg categories for women and the 640kg and 720kg for men before concluding with the mixed 600kg category.
Kwekwe based Glow Petroleum dominated the women’s category after winning gold in both the 560kg and 520kg categories in the women’s division with Mutare City and South African Walvis Bay scooping silver respectively.
South African teams Welvis Bay and Heldernberg dominated the men’s categories after winning the 720kgand 640kg categories respectively.
Zesa Holdings and Helderberg won silver in the respective categories.
The South African mixed team also won the mixed 600kg category after shrugging off competition from Zimbabwe’s Correctional Lions team who won silver.
In the national competition South Africa proved a force to reckon with but had to shrug off stiff competition from Zimbabwe winning almost everything on offer.
South Africa won gold in four of the five categories on offer with Zimbabwe winning gold in the women’s 520kg category only and silver in four other categories which were won by South Africa.
Zambia scooped bronze in the men 720kg, mixed 600kg, women 520kg and women 560kg categories.
Ghana scooped bronze in the men 640kg category.
Bortha however appealed with African nations to take the sport seriously saying more needs to be done to ensure the growth of the sport.
“It’s a pity only four countries out of a possible 18 countries that play the sport in Africa, managed to attend the competition. Despite that, this is a record attendance however by clubs in such competition but I want to encourage African governments and sponsors to take the sport seriously as it comes with a lot of opportunities,” he said.
He said they were not getting recognition from the International Olympic Committee hence it was difficult to make their voices heard in countries.
“The sport has grown tremendously in the last five years in Africa from about 9 active countries to about 18 participating countries. We have asked each country to mentor at least one country and if we get to about 36 or so countries, it becomes easy for us to make our voices heard and perhaps participate in the regional competitions,” he said.
Bortha said the sport had a huge potential of contributing to the economy through sport tourism.
“Sport in general has become a major driver of economic growth for countries. As you can see about 500 athletes who are gathered here, almost everyone has visited the Victoria Falls rain forest and some are even staying longer in the country. The sport is therefore underestimated and should be given the recognition it deserves,” he said.
Zimbabwe Tug of War Federation acting President, Lazarus Nkomo said sponsorship was still a challenge in Zimbabwe.
“As you can see we did not have any sponsorship but we are glad that the event was a success using the little contributions by the clubs. We are hoping that the Sports and Recreational Commission will start recognizing us and we can help grow the sport,” he said.
He said they are working on rolling out the sport in schools as a way of growing the sport.
“Our wish is that if we get recognized, we can then roll out the sport in schools and colleges so that we can introduce it to the juniors. Currently the sport is popular among the seniors in the country and we have to start introducing it to the juniors. It’s a sport which does not require much infrastructure and it is easy to play,” he said.
Tug of war is a sport which tests strength, strategy and coordination between two opposing teams is said to have started in Egypt and China.
The African championships were in preparation for the World Champions set for Germany in September.
Online Reporter