daniel chigunwe
Tadious Manyepo
Sports Reporter
FORMER Dynamos captain Tafadzwa Maingire has been making some progress in the coaching trenches in his rural home of Wedza.
He is leading Goneso FC, a social team that is on the verge of acquiring a second division franchise.
And on Sunday Goneso FC emerged the inaugural winners of the ED Cup after beating Dambatsoka in the final played at Warikandwa Secondary School in Chikomba.
The tournament, which started in June with over 100 netball and football teams, was put together by the Minister of Youth Development and VTCs Tino Machakaire, who is also the legislator for Wedza South Constituency.
In a tightly contested match, Goneso won 2-0 with Last Chidhoma and Stallion Makuvaza getting the goals for the Maingire team.
“I am working on my coaching qualifications right now. I have that passion and I believe I can make it big. I have decided to start from the bottom and I am happy we are doing something fantastic,” said Maingire.
“My team executed everything well and I am happy we have managed to achieve this. We are currently in the process of acquiring a Division 2 franchise”.
In netball, Dambatsoka beat Zviyambe 41-37 to take some cash prize home along with other utensils including bicycles and motorcycles.
Speaking during the prize hand-over ceremony, Machakaire said the tournament was held in honour of President Mnangagwa.
“We pulled all these resources together to hold a bumper netball and football tournament in honour of our President. That’s why we called the tournament ED Cup.
“We have to make sure that our youths are kept occupied doing some productive work. This tournament provided the youths in this area a very big platform to be identified by scouts.
“I can tell you that there are several players from this tournament who have attracted the interest of professional teams.
Above all, we will be helping the winners for both football and netball to acquire professional franchises”.
Sport, Recreation, Arts and Culture deputy minister Emily Jesaya hailed the initiative by Machakaire.
“I would like to take this opportunity to salute this great initiative. This is a great opportunity being given to rural youths who often lack the exposure to express themselves,” said Jesaya.
“I am very happy that every individual who participated in this tournament managed to get some prize. I am also challenging scouts for both football and netball to cast their net wider”.
The tournament will become an annual jamboree and will run separately with the Tinmac Foundation competition, which was launched back in 2019.
Online Reporter