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THE Matabeleland South Province police football team scooped gold at the 2019 Commissioner General of Police Sports Gala held in Harare.
Mat South emerged sixth overall out of 14 police provinces that contested in eight sporting disciplines.
The athletics team won three silver and three bronze medals.
Provincial police football team coach Sergeant Tavengwa chaps said they had six people, who include three footballers selected for the national squad that will represent the country at the 10th edition of the Southern African Regional Police Chiefs Cooperation Organisation bi-annual games slated for Luanda, Angola, from August 1-15.
Chapa said the Mat South provincial men’s football team beat Harare 5-4 on penalties in the final.
“This was our first time to reach the finals and we lifted the trophy which over the years has been a preserve of Bulawayo and Harare provinces. We managed to beat Masvingo Province 3-0 in the preliminary stage and moved to the quarter-finals where we beat Mashonaland Central 3-0. We advanced to the semi-finals where we beat Mashonaland East 1-0,” said Chapa.
He said for the final they met Harare and were deadlocked 1-1 in regulation time.
“We proceeded to penalties where we won 5-4. One of our players Dumiso Shoko was named player of the tournament. Our success can be attributed to hard work and dedication. Our selection process started from station level going up and from there we started building a solid team. We have been building this team for the past five years,” said Chapa.
Mat South provincial police sports officer Chief Inspector Manager Horeka said they want to maintain this new standard and improve in all sporting disciplines.
“We might have not done well in all sporting disciplines but there has been an improvement when compared to previous years. We used be last or second from last but this time we were placed sixth out of 14 provinces,” said Horeka.
The ZRP are the defending champions of the SARPCOO trophy which they last won in 2015 in Swaziland.
— @DubeMatutu.
Online Reporter