Chronicle Editor
Ellina Mhlanga, Harare Bureau
ZIM Cyber City chief executive officer Tendayi Hlupo-Mamvura says they are excited with their partnership with the Zimpapers Television Network to broadcast the upcoming Zim Cyber City Zim Afro T10 cricket matches as they seek to take the sport across the country.
The partnership was signed at the Zimpapers headquarters in Harare yesterday.
The Zim Cyber City Zim Afro T10 tournament will start on July 20 and the grand finale is scheduled for July 29, with all games taking place in Harare.
“We are delighted to be partnering Zimpapers because we know that this is the biggest media house in the country. As Zim Cyber City Afro T10 we are innovative, you will see innovation both in what we are developing at Zim Cyber City as well as the way sport will be played.
“I promise you cricket will never be the same after we have taken it across the country, which we are doing right now. Our teams are going right round the country activating the T10 format and what better way to do it than with a media house that is able to reach right across the whole country.
“So it is also our absolute pleasure to be partnering Zimpapers and ZTN.
“I promise you the quality of the content that you will be getting is high quality world class and you will witness as you stream the product that it is second to none,” said Hlupo-Mamvura.
The Zim Cyber City chief executive officer said they are looking beyond the upcoming tournament as they are on a talent hunt for a thousand cricket players around the country.
“Out of those thousand, some of them will be drafted into teams but five of them will be taken to be drafted into international teams, other T10 teams around the world.
“So that’s a really exciting thing from a youth, sport and development point of view. It’s an opportunity to create job opportunities through sport.
“I think there is a lot that we can do as a country in the sporting field to create opportunities for the young people so that they are gainfully or beneficially engaged,” said Hlupo Mamvura.
Zimpapers group chief executive Pikirayi Deketeke hailed the partnership and said its coming against a background of similar initiatives by the group.
“It is quite significant for us as a group because it is coming against the backdrop of similar initiatives that we have between ZTN and SuperSport, where they are trying to popularise the sport of football which has suffered a bit of a setback in Zimbabwe.
“It’s also coming at a time when cricket is now big in Zimbabwe. So we are really very excited as a media group,” said Deketeke.
“I always remark that some of our publications like The Herald used to be big on sport. People would buy the newspaper then flip it and read from the back page, and we need to bring back sport into our news pages, whether its television, radio or the newspapers.
“So we are quite delighted that you guys and ZTN have come together.”
ZTN general manager Nomsa Nkala said as ZTN they always thrive to provide best products for their customers.
“ZTN, we always thrive to provide the best products to our customers and sport is really one of the biggest areas that we are focusing on.
“We are excited to have exclusive rights to one of the biggest games in Africa. We are as innovative as you are, so it’s going to be exciting times,” said Nkala.
Zimpapers chief finance officer Farai Matanhire said there are high expectations from the partnership as they go into a new territory and are looking forward to it.
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