dyton mupawaenda
Veronica Gwaze–Sports Reporter
PLATINUM Queens were the toast of the night when they were crowned this year’s Nedbank-sponsored Premier Netball League champions at an end of season awards ceremony in Harare at the weekend.
The Zvishavane-based side have now won the title for the third time in a row.
Their head coach Simbarashe Mlambo also defended his title as Coach of Year for the third time while budding goal shooter Chipo Shoko walked away as Shooter of the Year.
Platinum Queens have been winning the title since the inception of the Premier Netball League three years ago, after jumping ship from the Glow Petroleum sponsored Rainbow Amateur Netball League where they were the reigning champions.
GreenFuel were the league runners up, maintaining the same position as last season while Ngezi Platinum Queens were crowned the league bronze medalists.
However, the Chisumbanje-based side walked away with more individual prizes, with rising star Faith Mutero being crowned Player of the Season.
Green horn Upenyu Kelly Muyambo, who also recently made her debut in the national team at the African Championships in Botswana where Zimbabwe finished as bronze medallist behind Zambia and Namibia, walked away as the Players’ Player of the season.
Gems shooter, Nicole Muzanenhamo, who grabbed the Player of the Year gongs in the past two seasons, was this time crowned the People’s Choice Player of the Year.
GreenFuel head coach Sibonginkosi Dube was elated.
“It feels like a dream, bagging many individual accolades like this shows that we are in the right direction and the future is bright for us,” she said.
“Last year, we finished the season in position two and we maintained this year. This is a sign of hard work and determination. Next year will be a better and more exciting story.
“The girls are young, some of them are still playing for the Young Gems while others just graduated into the seniors’ team and I am happy with the journey so far.”
ZUPCO Queens captain Harusiyi Chitiva won the “Most Disciplined” player of the year award while Ngezi Platinum Queens’ Taslima Mdimba emerged Player of the year.
Army side Black Rhinos Queens and FilChrist ZJC were crowned Most Disciplined and Most Improved teams respectively.
“Most of the credit goes to my coaches, they saw potential even when I doubted myself . . . they always said to me, you are a senior player and you have to push the others so you need to push harder,” said Mdimba.
“I did so, I had to be a team player and I am happy that as a team we achieved our target, the top three finish and this accolade is not about individual glory but a show of the faith that we put into each other as a group.”
Online Reporter