City shakes volleyball world

Brighton Zhawi —
THEIR football cousins took the Castle Premier Soccer League by storm and came agonisingly second in their debut season.

And now Harare City men’s volleyball team are threatening to go one better.

The way the newboys brushed aside Support Unit 2-0 to win the Zimbabwe Open Championship in Gweru recently has made people sit up and take notice.

City coach Willex Chisvo describes his team as “strong but still a work in progress.”

“Obviously winning the Zim Open Championship in the manner we did brings with it some attention. The world will be waiting to see what we do next and pundits will be touting us for more success,” said Chisvo.

“We worked hard to win the tournament in Gweru and will continue working hard but we are not yet the finished article. I believe we are still work in progress and cannot read much into how we won a tournament. At tournaments anything can happen.”

To cap a superb campaign, Harare City produced the competition’ s Most Valuable Player in former Zimbabwe national team captain Tawanda Pamire.

Pamire was also the best setter of the tournament, while his teammates Shammah Masawi and Tatenda Masawi were the best blocker and best spiker respectively.

Chisvo was full of praise for Pamire but reckons 18-year-old Churchill Boys pupil Masawi is the future.

“Pamire was our key man, he was in top form (and) so was our youngster Tatenda, who is at Churchill; this young boy has a bright future,” he said.

Having won the Zim Open, the next target for City is the 2017 Harare Volleyball League.

“I think our squad is well balanced,” Chisvo said. “Wherever we will be playing we have to play our best. Harare City is a brand with good management and our team has a good mixture of experienced players and youngsters so it’s fair to say we are in with a good shout.”