adminEllina Mhlanga Sports Reporter
DAIRIBOARD Zimbabwe’s Five-Aside football team left for Lusaka, Zambia yesterday to take part in the Stanchart Southern Africa Five-Aside Challenge scheduled for today.
The winners from today’s competition will progress to the Standard Chartered Trophy, Road to Anfield 2015 finals.
The one-day regional tournament is pencilled for today and will see three countries — Zambia, Zimbabwe and Botswana — battling it out for the single spot to represent the Southern Africa Region at the finals to be played at Anfield in the United Kingdom on May 28.
The competitions start at country level, with the winners going for the regional competition and the top team from there proceeds to the main tournament.
Dairiboard earned the ticket to Zambia when they came tops in the national competition that consisted of 24 teams.
Speaking on the sidelines of a send-off ceremony held in Harare yesterday, team coach Gibson Maponda said they were raring to go and confident of a victory in today’s event in Lusaka.
“We are well prepared for the competition; everything has been going on well. We don’t have any injuries and the boys are ready to play.
“Definitely, we are going to win; we have very high chances of winning and we have some good players in our team,” said Maponda.
Addressing the team during the send-off, Dairiboard managing director Thompson Mabika, who is the patron, said they are excited to participate in the tournament.
“Today we are excited and proud that we meet on this occasion when we give a rousing send-off to our small soccer team from among our staff who will represent Zimbabwe at the Stanchart Southern Africa Five-Aside soccer finals tournament in Lusaka. On our behalf, this team earned the berth by first qualifying from their group of six teams to the quarter-finals, then the semis, before victory in the finals. They came tops out of 24 teams from Stanchart’s selected Zimbabwe clients,” said Mabika.
Mabika said they were grateful to Standard Chartered for selecting them to be part of the tournament.
Standard Chartered head financial markets Mubaiwa Mubayiwa said they were happy to be associated with Dairiboard and they are hopeful the team will do well in Zambia.
“If Dairiboard win in Zambia, the team earns participation in the finals, which includes a trip to the UK with all accommodation and flights paid for.
“In addition, the teams will receive professional training session with Liverpool FC legends and coaches to help them prepare for the final tournament,” said Mubayiwa.
Online Reporter