Hall of Fame induction postponed

Sikhumbuzo Moyo
THE much awaited Zimbabwe Sports Hall of Fame induction process that was supposed to be held this month, has been postponed to next year due to lack of sponsorship. Sport and Recreation Commission (SRC) director for marketing and business development Daniel Kuwengwa said they were now hoping to have the event sometime in March or April next year.

“We could not secure enough funding this year hence the postponement to next year,” said Kuwengwa.
He said they could also not secure government funding due to the harmonised elections that were held in July.

“Everything else was already in motion with the line-up of judges in place. We had not of course received nominations from national associations as they were yet to look at the Hall of Fame document,” said Kuwengwa.

He said there were some minor sticking points that the associations wanted rectified before the final document among which was the issue of the cut off date for consideration of nominees.

The induction process was set to honour distinguished sports personalities in the country who will join 11 others who were inducted in 2005.

Those that qualify for nomination and consideration into the Hall of Fame should have retired from active sports for a minimum of five years, must have participated at the highest level of the game including representing Zimbabwe. They must not have been convicted of any crime, sporting or otherwise like doping or cheating and they must be people of impeccable discipline and must be role models in the society.

The number of inductees will be decided by the response to the nomination process.
Those already in the Sports Hall of Fame are Dave Houghton from Cricket, George Shaya (football), Artwell Mandaza (athletics), Langton Tinago (boxing), Evans Stewart (diving), Ian Robertson (rugby), Dennis Watson, George Harvey (golf), David Westerhout (shooting), Florence Kennedy (lawn balls) and the 1980 Golden Girls hockey team.

Some of the names that are likely to come up during the nomination process include, Nick Price (golf), the Black brothers, Byron and Wayne and sister Cara (tennis), Bruce Grobbelaar, Madinda Ndlovu and Moses Chunga (football), Collin Williams (hockey), Ngoni Makusha and Lewis Banda (athletics), Wayne Lancaster and Darren Enslin (shooting) and the first black player to play for the Zimbabwe rugby national team, the late Milton Nyala.