Online Reporter
Veronica Gwaze
Zimpapers Sports Hub
AN air of excitement and anxiety has been sweeping through players and coaches amid confirmation that the long-awaited Rainbow Netball League awards are scheduled to take place in Harare tomorrow night in honour of the top performers from the 2025 season.
Earlier on the same day in the afternoon, RANL will host their annual meeting before electing a new secretary-general for the league.
The new secretary-general will replace Moses Gukurume, whose tenure is coming to an end.
For an event that was first scheduled to take place early last month before being postponed twice, momentum has already built up again ahead of tomorrow night’s ceremony.
“On this day we host our two most important events as a league, it is a day on which we look to discuss critical issues to do with their welfare and other areas,” said Gukurume.
“After that, in the evening we then celebrate our most valued possession which is the athletes or players . . . without them there would be no RANL.
“The good thing is that while this is a league where champions are eventually crowned, we believe everyone here is a winner and we want the game to unite people.”
Correctional Queens will finally be officially crowned champions after being confirmed as the champions with a game to spare in 2025.
Despite going on to fall 41-48 to perennial rivals Glow Petroleum in their last game of the campaign at Torwood, Kwekwe the Correctional Services side had already completed their mission for the year.
Coach Faith Matanganyidze is also the hot favourite for the “Coach of the Year” gong after leading her team to an impressive record.
Correctional Queens’ goal shooter Tafadzwa Mawango will also walk away a winner after retaining her title as the Golden Hand winner.
With 1067 goals to her name, Mawango wins the accolade for the second year running after bagging it for the first time in 2024.
In that year, she set an all-time record, having scored a total of 1,802 goals, the highest by any player in the league.
However, more focus will be on who takes home the top honours, the “Player of the Year” accolade.
Four players are joint in the top race; all having won nine ‘Player of the match’ recognitions.
GreenFuel’s Nicole Muzanenhamo, Taslima Mudimba of JT Highflyers, Amkella Phiri who turns out for Golden Valley, and Edna Nyamhazha from Correctional Queens lead the race with nine recognitions apiece.
Ordinarily, the number of the ‘Player of the match’ recognitions that a player accumulates over the season has a bearing on who becomes the overall winner at the end of the year.
