Chronicle Editor
Tadious Manyepo Sports Reporter
FORMER Dynamos captain Murape Murape has implored sport scouts to look beyond urban areas as there is vast talent in the country’s rural settlements. The 2007 Soccer Star of the Year was impressed by the players who participated in the inaugural Mike Karakadzai Netball and Soccer tournament at Musinami in Mhondoro. The annual tourney is held in honour of the late Mike Karakadzai who was an Air Commodore in the Air Force of Zimbabwe.
Chikwangwadza School bagged the netball trophy after dismissing Mukwasi 16-6 while Murambe beat Kaguvi 7-6 in penalties after a 1-1 stalemate in regulation time in the football final. And Murape, a backbone of a Dynamos side which won the league title four times on the trot between 2011 and 2014, was excited by what he saw.
“I was very impressed by what I witnessed in Mhondoro in the inaugural edition of the Mike Karakadzai Netball and Soccer tournament. I have a feeling that as a country we are found wanting in some sports codes not because we do not have good players but we are not casting our nets wide enough to capture all the good players. In Zimbabwe, we have a tendency of only looking for those players in urban settlements. There is a lot of talent in the rural areas and only if we start to appreciate that we will go a notch up in our sport.
“There are good players in Mhondoro, in fact good enough to warrant places at Dynamos. So I will recommend some of them to Dynamos coach Mutasa (Lloyd). If we have more tournaments of that nature I think we will be able to see a lot of talented players emerging. But, the danger is if scouts do not cast their nets wide, these players could become drug addicts, thieves or will just hang up their boots upon reaching 19 or 20 years,” he said.
Murape is currently coaching the club’s juniors. Member of Parliament for Chegutu East Constituency, Webster Shamu, is the patron of the annual tournament.
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