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Fungai Muderere
THE Carling Black Label (CBL) National Pool Championships get underway on Saturday, with action to go on in the provinces until the end of July, culminating in the national finals to be held at a venue yet to be announced.
Gwanda, Mvurwi and Chipinge are the places where the activities are taking place on Saturday. The next nationwide activities are lined up from June 8 in Beitbridge, Chinhoyi and Kwekwe. Bindura and Chiredzi will host their activities on June 15 with Bulawayo, Harare, Victoria Falls, Hwange and Victoria Falls set to have their games in July. Winners from the provincial competitions will qualify for the national tournament.
In the finals, over 100 men and women will be battling it out to win the prizes that the sponsors are once again set to give away this year. Delta Beverages is on record saying Carling Black Label is the beer that distinguishes the game of pool as a major passion point for its consumers and that is why the brand has sponsored the Carling Black Label National Pool Tournaments for many years now.
Records were broken at last year’s CBL national pool championships in Masvingo, in yet another testament to how the sport is fast gaining adhesion. For almost a decade, no male player from Bulawayo had won the CBL national title until last weekend, when Pelandaba-bred Lindani Gumpo — who plays at Palace Hotel — romped to victory at Flamboyant Hotel in Masvingo.
Bulawayo had failed to provide a male winner since 2014, as Harare and Chitungwiza-based players dominated the competition. Year 2022 winner Pearson “Zozo” Nyasha is from Chitungwiza, while the 2015, 2018 and 2019 winner, Tendai “Inspector” Mubaiwa, is from Hatfield, although born and bred in Chitungwiza.
Blessing Chatoma (Harare) and Obedience Nyaumwe (Chitungwiza), won the 2016 and 2017 finals, respectively.
Interestingly, 53-year-old Patricia Ganya, who turns out for Tigers Pool Club in Chitungwiza, became the first woman from the province to win the national championship after recovering to beat Alice Chihota in an exhilarating final. In fact, no woman from Harare and Chitungwiza had won the title since 2015.
Someya Mlauzi of Kwekwe was the defending champion going into the 2023 finals, Ganya upset the apple-cart and took the gong back to Chitungwiza. It took Ganya almost three decades to finally land the Carling Black Label title, having been inspired by her father, who played golf. Winners of last year’s finals walked away US$1 500 richer plus a pool table. The finals attracted 128 players, 64 men and 64 women, from across Zimbabwe.
Recent winners of the CBL national championships
2023 Lindani Gumpo (Bulawayo) Patricia Ganya (Chitungwiza)
2022 Pearson Nyasha (Chitungwiza) Someya Mlauzi (Kwekwe)
2019 Tendai Mubaiwa (Harare) Flatta Moyo (Gwanda)
2018 Tendai Mubaiwa (Harare) Charity Ncube (Kadoma)
2017 Obedience Nyaumwe (Chitungwiza) Priscilla Chisoro (Bulawayo)
2016 Blessing Chatoma (Harare) Charity Ncube (Kadoma).
Online Reporter