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. . . a year of mixed fortunes
Sports Reporters
FROM long-distance runner Isaac Mpofu being the first Zimbabwean athlete to punch his ticket to the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics to the stuttering Chevrons, it has been a mixed bag of performances by the country’s sports teams this year.
Mpofu underlined his bid to make a mark at the Olympics when he clocked a new national record time of two hours, six minutes and 48 seconds at the Valencia Marathon in Spain.
The Olympic qualifying standard time is two hours, eight minutes and 10 seconds. His achievement cemented the marathon runners’ dominance in local athletics over their track and field counterparts. On the other hand, football, the country’s flagship sport, ended an 18-month FIFA-enforced hiatus from the international game.
This paved the way for the Warriors, Mighty Warriors and even the schools’ teams to return to action with some statement shows.
FIFA lifted the suspension on Zimbabwe on July 11 by appointing the Normalisation Committee, led by Lincoln Mutasa, to take charge of ZIFA.
Zimbabwe then played their first competitive match against Rwanda in a World Cup qualifier that ended goalless at Huye Stadium in Butare on November 15.
Four days later, 2022 Castle Soccer Star of the Year Walter Musona became the first player, post-suspension, to score for the Warriors in a competitive match, when he struck in the 1-1 draw against Nigeria at the same venue.
The Mighty Warriors also made a return to the international stage with a dance at the 2023 COSAFA Women’s Championship in South Africa in October. They finished fourth after a 2-0 loss to Mozambique in the bronze medal match, while Malawi were crowned champions for the first time.
History for Ngezi
On the domestic front, history was made in the Castle Lager Premier Soccer League as Mhondoro miners Ngezi Platinum Stars won their maiden championship, becoming the first side from Mashonaland West province to achieve such a feat, which also comes with a debut place in the CAF Champions League.
Giants Dynamos ended a nine-year trophy drought with a 2-0 triumph over Ngezi in the Chibuku Super Cup.
Victory also meant Dynamos secured a ticket to the 2024 CAF Confederation Cup, which will mark exactly a decade since their last appearance in a continental inter-club competition.
The lifting of the FIFA suspension also brought some joy to young footballers, who, after missing the inaugural edition in Malawi last year, were given the opportunity to host the CAF African Schools Football Championship-COSAFA Qualifiers in Harare.
Zimbabwe finished third in the tournament won by South Africa.
Blemish
Sadly, the game continued to lose some of its finest servants.
Former Warriors player and coach Rahman Gumbo and ex-Zimbabwe goalkeeper George Chigova died within days of each other in November.
In the same month, yesteryear great Andrew “Mai Maria” Kadengu, who dazzled for Zimbabwe Saints, also passed away and was buried in Chinhoyi.
The football fraternity was plunged into mourning again following the death of legendary Dynamos winger and coach David George. He died at his home in Glen Norah on December 23 and was buried at Zororo Memorial Park on Boxing Day.
Cricket
For the cricket family, 2023 started on a bleak note, as if to portend what would follow in the year.
Seven days into the new year, the sport lost ex-Lady Chevrons international Sinikiwe Mpofu.
Mpofu, who later became the senior women’s national team assistant coach, died less than a month after the demise of her husband, Shepherd Makunura, who was the Chevrons fielding and assistant coach. As if to give Mpofu and her husband a befitting send-off, the Chevrons registered their first win of the year, when they cruised to a five-wicket victory over Ireland on January 12. They went on to win the three T20 International series 2-1.
Having spent close to two years without playing the longer version of the sport, the Chevrons marked a return to red-ball cricket with two Test matches against West Indies at Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo in February. They drew the first game, before the tourists edged Zimbabwe by four runs in the second Test.
Despite all the promise they showed early into the year, the Chevrons somehow lost the plot and failed to maximise on home advantage when tasked to host the ODI World Cup Qualifier.
A nine-wicket loss to Sri Lanka and another 31-run defeat by Scotland put paid to Zimbabwe’s hopes of making it to the World Cup staged in India in October.
Their outgoing coach Dave Houghton said their failure to qualify was a bitter pill to swallow.
“It is a hard pill to swallow; something hard to take,” Houghton said in July.
Another huge setback was to follow the Chevrons — their failure to make the cut for the T20 World Cup at the Africa Region Qualifier in Namibia.
That failure — fuelled by a series of defeats to Ireland for the first time on home soil — eventually cost Houghton his job, with the coach resigning in frustration.
Expectations had been high that the Chevrons would sail through since they were the only Test nation at the Africa Region Qualifier.
Conversely, the women’s side, the Lady Chevrons, became the pride of the nation when securing passage from the African edition of the T20 World Cup Qualifier into the main 2024 global qualifier.
The Lady Chevrons finished the African qualifier in Uganda unbeaten and will be hoping to carry the momentum into 2024.
Boxing
Talented female boxer Kudakwashe “Take Money” Chiwandire became the first Zimbabwean to fight for a World Boxing Council gold belt when she took on world super-bantamweight champion Yamileth Mercado of Mexico in Chihuahua on March 18.
She, however, lost on points after enduring a nightmarish trip to Mexico, where she arrived a few hours before the fight.
A week later, Zimbabwean boxing star Charles Manyuchi announced his retirement from the sport in March but revealed that he would finally hang up his gloves after taking part in a series of farewell fights.
Manyuchi has already taken a bow in Chivhu, Harare and Lusaka (Zambia).
At least he will retire knowing that there are upcoming pugilists capable of prolonging Zimbabwe’s legacy on the international arena.
One of the rising stars is Aliyah Phiri, who won the African Boxing Union lightweight title after stopping Israel Kamwamba of Malawi in the second round in a highly anticipated clash in Avondale, Harare, on December 8.
Zimbabwe’s Gems were back at the Netball World Cup but this time on African soil at the tournament staged in Cape Town, South Africa.
But, unlike their eye-catching performances in Liverpool, England, in 2019, the Gems this time struggled with their game.
From a commendable eighth-place finish in England, the Gems could only manage a lowly 13th in 2023.
Online Reporter