adminWhat the boy child failed, the girl child has done!
The Mighty Warriors will wave the Zimbabwean flag up high when the 2016 Olympic Games – the biggest multi sporting discipline event on the globe – gets underway in the Brazilian capital of Rio de Janeiro from August 5 to 21.
The Mighty Warriors outplayed Cameroon in a double legged 2016 Olympics qualifying tie, a result that was least expected by all and sundry given the pedigree of the West Africans in football.
After all, we all know the history of Cameroon and what the country has achieved in football. We all know how many times the West Africans have caused us Zimbabweans so much pain and agony in international football competitions.
But this is the same Cameroon that has been put on the receiving end this time around – thanks to the agility and resilience of our beloved Mighty Warriors.
For years since independence, owing to mediocrity, non payment of play bonuses and or lack of adequate preparations, the soccer crazy nation of Zimbabwe has not been able to celebrate positive results from various football teams representing the nation in different international competitions.
The success starved nation had become used to watching other nationalities competing on the international stage while we Zimbabweans became used to the spectators role, painful as might be.
In the years gone by, our hearts have been broken, our dreams shattered and our feeling hurt as we watched, year in year out, teams representing Zimbabwe falter, at times on the last hurdle.
On numerous occasions, our national teams have failed to qualify for major international tournaments even when it seemed that the stage is set for them to qualify.
The Mighty Warriors triumph gives us a cogent reason to wildly celebrate their achievement. Their triumph gives us assurance that we have the talent and all we need is to be a bit more organised in our approach to business in sport.
More importantly, the Mighty Warriors triumph gives us hope that there could be more in the offing not only from the Mighty Warriors but the entire football fraternity as well as other sporting disciplines.
Like true warriors, they kept their eyes on the prize from the onset and fought long and hard for this honourable achievement thus today we join them in popping the champagne bottles.
Coach Shadreck Mlauzi and his team deserve a pat on the back for a job well done and as the nation drowns in the euphoria of the recent achievement, let us not forget the need to adequately prepare for the Rio Games.
That we qualified for the Rio Games is commendable as much as well also need not be in Rio just to make up the numbers. It is incumbent upon us as a nation to ensure that the girls get adequate preparations and relatively better remuneration so that they continue giving a good account of sport in Zimbabwe.
But as they say, success has many fathers while failure remains an orphan.
Now that the senior women’s national team has done it, breaking the jinx that has always haunted our national teams, particularly football national teams, many are now proud to be associated with this history making squad but the nation is fully aware of the trials and tribulations that these talented girls went through to attain this feat.
Until their recent qualification to the Rio competitions, the Mighty Warriors went through a lot. They occasionally failed to get adequate time for preparations, in some of the matches they played for virtually nothing and as if that was enough, at times, failing to get food during camp.
One hopes that we have come of age and learnt a lesson or two from our past failures and going into the future we will make amends as we must make sure that our sports-persons are well taken care of. It is also incumbent on the local corporate sector to play its role in support these girls who have shown potential to scale dizzy heights and be a source of pride for the nation.
Be that as it may, by qualifying for major international competition – the Rio Olympics games – the Mighty Warriors defied the odds and to them we say, Good Luck in Rio!
Online Reporter