Nasama’s big relief

Sports Reporter
DYNAMOS rookie forward King Nasama says he was heartbroken before the match against Chapungu at Ascot on Saturday after he was told his mother was among the seven supporters who died in a road accident. Nasama yesterday spoke of his relief after learning that his mother, Shylet Tinonetsana, had only suffered chest and neck injuries. She was discharged from hospital yesterday afternoon and is now recovering at home.

Tinonetsana was travelling to Gweru with the Dynamos supporters to deliver her son a pair of new football boots she had bought in South Africa when tragedy struck on Saturday morning.

She had travelled with his father, a truck driver, who remained in Masvingo while she proceeded with the journey to Harare. “My mother had brought me a new pair of football boots from South Africa but then she arrived in the early hours of Saturday morning, around 2am.

“I wanted to use those boots but I ended up using old ones,” said Nasama. The teenage striker scored DeMbare’s winning goal as the Glamour Boys came from behind to clinch a crucial 2-1 away win over the Gweru airmen. He was a troubled soul just before the match as news filtered that an accident had occurred at Battlefields and that his mother was among the deceased.

“I received so many phone calls before the match and people were saying different things. Some said your mother has died on the spot and others said she was seriously injured.

“But I didn’t want to focus on the worst, so I switched off my phone.

“No one knew exactly what had happened to her but senior players like Stephen Alimenda and Augustine Mbara came and talked to me when we were going back to the changing room just before the match to ignore most of those things being said and to strengthen me.

“I didn’t want to hear people telling me that my mother was dead. She is the person who supported me from the grassroots.

“Under difficult conditions, she would provide bus fare for me to go to training every time but now I am getting my own salary.

“I thank God she is alive and is recovering. Of course, she is complaining of pain in the chest and neck but she has been discharged from hospital. We are now praying for a speedy recovery,” said Nasama.