Juwawo Wins 2016 Old Mutual Nkulumane Fun Race

 

OLYMPIAN Wirimai Juwawo reclaimed the Old Mutual Nkulumane 10km Fun Race title after romping to an easy victory at Nkulumane Shopping Complex on Sunday.

Wirimai JUWAWO

 

 

Prior to his latest victory, the 2016 Rio Olympics bound athlete had last won this particular event in 2013 when he successfully defended his title following his first place finish when the race was revived in 2012.

 

 

 

 

The seasoned Juwawo strategically kept the leading pack within touching distance before taking over the lead with a kilometre to go.

He went on to hit the tape with 30 minutes 18 seconds on the clock with second placed Jacob Mugomeri finishing four seconds behind him.



Jacob MUGOMERI and Wellington VAREVI

“The race was okay and the only challenge that I had was the windy conditions. In the first four kilometres of the race the wind was behind us and the course was downhill so I made sure I reserved my energy for the last half of the race which is uphill and the other guys could not catch me when I made a break for it,” Juwawo said.

 

 

 

Kelvin Pangiso finished third in 30 minutes and 34 seconds while Trust Chidomaya was fourth in 30 minutes and 45 seconds.

Kelvin PANGISO and Wirimai JUWAWO

 

Wellington Varevi came fifth in 30 minutes and 56 seconds.

 

 

 

 

 

    The womens’ 10km race was won by Patience Murove in 36 minutes and 15 seconds.

Patience MUROVE (far left) leads Constance NYASANGO and Rutendo NYAHORA

 

The Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services athlete relegated last year’s winner Olivia Chitate to second position while another former winner of the race Rutendo Nyahora finished in fifth position.

Juwawo and Murove received $500 for their efforts which is half of what winners of previous editions were getting because of cash problems currently prevailing in the country.

Jay Kuveya of Mandwandwe High came first in the 10km Junior Men’s Race with Sandra Taderera of Mpopoma High coming first in the Junior Women’s category.

Trust CHIDOMAYA

 

Chidomaya was the winner of the Veteran Men’s race while Thabitha Tsatsa won the Veteran Women’s race.

Elford MOYO

 

 

 

 

Kingstone Maringe and Rutendo Moyo triumphed in the veterans’ category with Jethro Thebe and Felistas Nicodemus winning in the Grand Masters section.

 

 

 

The Wheelchair races were won by Elford Moyo and Thandiwe Ndlovu.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cosmas "Tsano" Zulu makes stand-up comedy debut

Cosmas "Tsano" Zulu

 

A rib cracking performance by veteran football coach Cosmas Tsano Zulu was one of the highlights of the night as Umahlekisa Comedy Club celebrated three years of existence at the Bulawayo Rainbow hotel last Friday.

 

The Highlanders technical advisor had comedy lovers eating out of the palm of his hand when he was afforded the opportunity to go on stage and warm up the crowd after making an unscheduled appearance at the comedy showcase.

MC Cde Phil

“I read about this show in the papers and decided to pitch up and do a little performance,” Zulu said.

 

 

 

 

“I wanted to come and share some jokes that I share with my boys when the team is in camp to boost their morale.”  

 

 

 

 

So polished was Zulu’s performance that he not only received a well -deserved cheer at the end of his set, but his presentation also proved to be a hard act to follow for upcoming comedian Owen Nyoni, whose jokes failed to strike the right chord with the audience.

Owen
 

 

 

 

Another newcomer, Marcus Ngwenya, fared a lot better and his act belied the fact that he was making his debut stand up performance.

Marcus

Umahlekisa Comedy Club regulars Mandla Simbarashe and H.O also performed with the later falling victim to some heckling from a section of the audience.

Mandlenkosi Simbarashe

 

 

 

 

H.O

The founders of the Umahlekisa initiative Ntando Van Moyo and Clive Chigubhu brought the show to a hilarious end with Moyo performing first and then Chigubhu closing it off in his inimitable style.

Clive Chigubhu and Ntando van Moyo

After the show Moyo described the well-attended event as evidence of their growth.

“I am so satisfied with the turnout and I would like to believe that it is a reflection of how we have grown over the years,” said Moyo.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Matawu boost for Chicken Inn

Clemence MATAWU

Veteran midfielder Clemence Matawu is part of the Chicken Inn squad that is set to take on crack South African outfit Mamelodi Sundowns in a Caf Champions League preliminary round second leg encounter on Saturday night.

Matawu, who missed the first leg as he was still recovering from injury, replaced Canaan Nkomo in the 18-man squad that will travel to South Africa on Wednesday afternoon.

The Gamecocks carry a 1-0 lead into the second leg encounter which is set for the Lucas Moripe Stadium in Pretoria and their head coach Joey Antipas is hoping for a positive result that will see them through to the next round.

Joey ANTIPAS

“One thing we know is that we will have our work cut out by a Sundowns side that will be baying for our blood. For us to get a positive result we have to once again come up with a great performance like we did in the first leg,” said Antipas.

Chicken Inn are expected in South Africa on Wednesday afternoon and team secretary Tawengwa Hara said they have lined up some training sessions under floodlights since the match will be played at night.

Tawengwa HARA

“The team is leaving early for South Africa so that they can have time to train under floodlights which was not possible here because the charges we were asked to pay were very exorbitant,” Hara said.

The Chicken Inn official said the reigning Castle Premiership champions were asked to part with nearly $4 000 to train under floodlights at Barbourfields.

Plans to train at the Khumalo Hockey Stadium, where the charges are lower, were scuppered by the poor state of the playing surface at the facility.

The winner of the preliminary round encounter between the Gamecocks and Amasandawana will face Congolese outfit AC Leopards in the first round.

Chicken Inn squad

Goalkeepers:

Elvis Chipezeze, Pride Zendera.

Defenders:

Passmore Bernard, Divine Lunga, Lawrence Mhlanga, Moses Jackson, Ben Nyahunzvi.

Midfielders:

Danny Phiri, Brian Juru, Tafadzwa Kutinyu, Clemence Matawu, Thabani Goredema, Physwell Madhazi, George Majika, Edmore Chirambadare.

Strikers:

Obidiah Tarumbwa, Michelle Katsvairo and Moses Demera.

   

Youngsters impress in Bosso win

The decision to not go into the market for seasoned players may turn out to be a masterstroke by Highlanders Football Club after graduates from their development side stole the show during the Bulawayo Football Festival on Sunday.

Prince Dube

Centre striker Prince Dube (19) scored the solitary goal that earned Highlanders victory over Bulawayo City in the final of the four - team festival while 21 – year old Brian Banda was on target in the semi – final victory over How Mine.

Brian Banda

Banda’s strike however, was cancelled out by How Mine new signing Toto Banda and the match had to be decided by a penalty shoot-out that Highlanders won 4 – 2.

Adrian Silla

20 – year old Adrian Silla, who joined the Bosso development side mid season last year and helped the team win promotion into the Southern Region Soccer League after coming second in the second division last year, put up some eye catching performances after coming on as a substitute in both games and capped a fine afternoon by providing the assist for Dube’s winner in the final.

Dube, a product of journalist Lee Mangena’s Street Set Football Club, was the top goal scorer in the Bulawayo Province Division 2 league last season with 20 goals to his credit.

 Amini – Soma Phiri, who was in charge of Highlanders while Dutchman Erol Akbay watched from the stands, was full of praise for the youngsters.

Erol Akbay,right, with from left Marko Dube, Cosmas Zulu and Melusi Sibanda

“Like the chairman indicated, we cannot afford to buy players so we are going to build the team from the youngsters that we have. The boys are showing a lot of positives especially this young boy Prince Dube, he has something special and I think that he will give us a lot if he does not get injured,” Soma - Phiri said.

On their way to the final Bulawayo City beat Tsholotsho 3-1 after a penalty shoot-out.

The match had ended in a goalless stalemate during regulation time.

Bulawayo City coach Philani Ncube said he did not read much into the results of the matches as the goal was to get his team ready for the season.

Philani Ncube and Amini Soma - Phiri

“It’s not about the results as we are working on the four fundamentals, the technique, the tactics, the physiology and the psychology. 


We are almost done with the physical part and we are now working on incorporating the technic/tactic and then later on we will move on to the psychological part,” Ncube said.

Themba Sibanda, Kelvin Kaindu and Bekithemba Ndlovu

New How Mine coach Kelvin Kaindu said his team is still far from being in good physical condition and only took part in the festival to support Highlanders who are turning 90 years old this year.

“We had to adjust our programme considering when the season is starting (April) because we realised that if we do the six – week periodisation cycle, we would have been ahead before the season starts so we have not done much of the practical side but we have been doing the theory,” Kaindu said.

Tsholotsho head coach Lizwe Sweswe said taking part in the Bulawayo Football Festival had helped him judge the mental strength of some of the youngsters who are trying their luck at his side.

Xolani, Lizwe Sweswe and Mkhando

“These games have been very helpful because while you can work on the tactical and technical aspects of the game with these players, it is only during such matches that one can gauge their mental aptitude,” Sweswe said.

Giacomo Ratto

Iziqholo zeZhwane featured Italian keeper Giacomo Ratto in their penalty shoot-out loss to Bulawayo City.

Highlanders headline Bulawayo Football Festival

Football fans in the City of Kings and Queens are in for a treat this Sunday when Highlanders, Bulawayo City, Tsholotsho and How Mine clash at Barbourfields Stadium in a tournament that has been dubbed the Bulawayo Football Festival.

The festival is being organised by all the four clubs involved with the idea being to try and fund raise and also give teams a chance to gauge how far they have gone in terms of preparing for the 2016 season.

Gate charges have been pegged at $2 for the rest of the ground while tickets for the wings will cost $3 and entry into the VIP section will cost $5.

The tournament draw will be conducted at Barbourfields at 09:00 hrs.

Highlanders have been seeded meaning the other three teams will go into the hat with the first two teams to be picked playing each other in the first match at10 o’clock and then Bosso will play the remaining team in the second match.

The winners of the first two games will then proceed to the finals while the losers will take part in a third place play-off.

Proceeds from the festival will be shared equally between the four teams with the tournament winners also earning bragging rights over their city rivals.

Highlanders FC secretary general Emmett Ndlovu

Highlanders secretary general Emmett Ndlovu said they were taking the tournament seriously as it provides an opportunity for Bosso to gauge their strength.

“The guys are really taking it seriously as they know that at the beginning of the season this is where you measure yourself against these guys that are also trying to be counted among the big boys of local football. 
Our technical has been working flat out to ensure that we come nothing short of victory and I can confirm that our new coach Erol Akbay will be part of out technical team on Sunday,” Ndlovu said.

Bulawayo City FC chairman Jerry Sibanda

Bulawayo City chairman Jerry Sibanda said he is confident that his team will emerge victorious as they are the best prepared.

“We have one of the most seasoned coaches in the country in Philani Beefy Ncube and we want to see how he has prepared for the 2016 season. 

I am very confident because no other team is as prepared as Bulawayo City, we are more prepared than even our brothers (Highlanders) and on Sunday we are going to beat our brothers and later on say sorry brother, you are just not prepared,” Sibanda said.

Tsholotsho FC chairman Mlamuli Phiri

Tsholotsho chairman Mlamuli Phiri said the tournament is bound to foster unity among the teams taking part.

“It will be a sweet time. We have met two of the teams that will be part of the tournament when we played them in the Premier League last year. 
We were beaten by Highlanders twice and hopefully on Sunday it will be a time for us to say; feel us! We will approach the games as friends because we are one people in Bulawayo,” said Phiri.

Bosso treasurer Donald Ndebele implored fans to come in their numbers and enjoy the football fiesta.

Highlanders FC treasurer Donald Ndebele

“I would like to invite the soccer loving Bulawayo public to come in large numbers because if you are to watch four games for $2 it means that on average you will have paid 0.50 cents per match. 
This is an opportunity to financially support these teams and the teams should also use the chance to showcase upcoming talent,” Ndebele said.

Bosso coach Akbay finally arrives

     

Dutchman Erol Akbay has finally arrived in the country to assume the position of head coach at Highlanders football club.

The Bosso clubhouse was Akbay’s first port of call upon his arrival in Bulawayo for a session with the local media before he proceeded to Barbourfields Stadium where the Highlanders senior team was training.

Highlanders chief executive officer Ndumiso Gumede took time to clarify the circumstances behind Akbay’s delay in coming into the country to take up one of the toughest jobs on the local football scene.

He said: “It’s only a pleasure to have Mr Erol Akbay with us. It has taken a long time for him to come but I think want to put you at ease because there were now insinuations of incompetence, on of his late appointment. He might be able to talk for himself, but as early as late October (2015) we had decided it would be him. I hope you are not offended Erol - but he was asking for an arm and a leg for his salary and we told him we are a poor club. I know it is difficult for people to understand how Highlanders is a poor club but we started off by negotiating salaries until we got to a level when we said now we can manage. That took time and once we got over the hurdle of salaries we then began the paperwork. He brought us all the papers but they were all in Dutch. We had asked him to get those papers certified but some were not and we had to get the papers to the Dutch embassy in Harare for them to do the translation for us.

They were magnanimous enough to accept the papers, read through them and I think convince themselves that there was nothing that could damage the image of the Dutch embassy, and then nicely said no, we do not do translations, there are your papers and go try Roosevelt Girls High School where there is a Dutch national and that is the person who did the translation, but the papers still needed certification and we ended up going a little higher after the embassy also declined to do that. Those are the things that took long.”

Akbay, who signed a two – year contract with Highlanders, promised to bring an exciting brand of football to Tshilamoya.

“I am very happy to be here because I am very excited to start work. Highlanders is a big club of course and has to compete for the championship and what I want to give to Highlanders is very nice, fast football and we will see what will happen this year,” Akbay said.

Amini Soma – Phiri is the assistant coach at Highlanders and has been taking the team through their paces alongside technical advisor Cosmas Zulu in the Dutchman’s absence.

Veteran coach Zulu also doubles up as the goalkeepers’ trainer.

Akbay though, revealed that he had not availed the pre – season training programme to Phiri and Zulu and said the proper programme will only get underway now that he is here.

He, however, said he would be guided by Phiri and Zulu on identifying the key players to build his team around.

The Dutch coach’s contract is performance based and Gumede said the club will be content with a top four finish in his first year as he will be still finding his feet.

“In the first year we are expecting that in the first 10 games he should be staying with the leading pack and get a minimum of sixty percent of achievement. It may sound steep, but we are not a small club and he has already accepted that we are a big club. If by the end of the year he finishes in the top four, we will deem that he has done reasonably well. As administration of course we have different expectations from the man in the street who expects hundred. The man in the street thinks all those 15 other clubs are just making up the numbers and the correct club that should take the championship is his. The tricky year is his second as there will be no excuses because he would have acclimatised to the environment in Zimbabwe and he would have had two chances to bring in his own players - during mid season in 2016 and at the beginning of 2017. The big cake certainly must come in the second year but did I say we don’t want to win the league in 2016? No! If he can win it in 2016 then I am sure I can ask one of my sisters to come back from marriage and we can give him a second wife,” Gumede said.

     

Its advantage Chicken Inn!

 

Zimbabwean champions Chicken Inn put up a disciplined performance to edge crack South African outfit Mamelodi Sundowns 1 – 0 in a CAF Champions League preliminary round first leg encounter at Barbourfields Stadium on Saturday.

 

 With the Castle Premiership still in off-season, the Gamecocks knew that going toe to toe with the Absa Premiership log leaders would be suicidal and relied on the counter with their back four always in position.

In his post - match interview, Gamecocks head coach Joey Antipas said the 1-0 score line was a bonus for him as their target had been a scoreless draw.

“To tell you the truth we went out to try and play for nil nil but we managed to get one nil up against quality opponents like Sundowns. I am very chuffed about the win and proud about the way the boys maintained tactical discipline and it’s a good win for the team. We gave Sundowns all the ball to play but closed them down in critical areas and the boys really put up a good show,” Antipas said.

 

 

His Sundowns counterpart Pitso Mosimane attributed his team’s lethargic performance to a congested fixture schedule.

“We didn’t have the legs for this match hence we couldn’t even catch the rhythm. It was difficult for us as we didn’t have the energy to up it up a little bit and the difficult thing is that we got a few injuries and I thought my important players – Khama (Billiat), and (Keegan) Dolly must come off because we still have a long way to go,” Mosimane said.

 

 

 

It was clear from the onset that Sundowns wanted to use the flanks to breach the Chicken Inn rear guard, with their wingbacks pushing up every time they were in possession, but the hosts’ wide midfielders took care of that threat by tracking back and assuming defensive positions.

And after successfully keeping Sundowns at bay in the opening stages, the hosts threatened to open the scoring on five minutes, with Obidiah Tarumbwa and Edmore Chirambadare combining to launch a raid.

Another quick attack by Chicken Inn had Sundowns keeper Wayne Sandilands flailing on 13 minutes and moments later the former Platinum Stars keeper raised questions about his competence when he failed to hold on to a weak shot by George Majika and conceded a corner kick.

The strategy to try and catch the visitors on the break finally paid off for Chicken Inn on 34 minutes when Michelle Katsvairo finished off a counter attacking move that was started by left back Devine Lunga and involved Tafadzwa Kutinyu.

Lunga won the ball deep in his own half and passed it to Kutinyu who in turn released Katsvairo and the former FC Platinum striker left Downs defender Wayne Arendse for dead before riffling it past Sandilands to open the scoring.

After the break Sundowns brought in Zimbabwean striker Cuthbert Malajila for Teko Modise but that change failed to bring any dividends as the home team continued to deny the visitors any openings.

In the second half Chicken Inn defended deep and would form defensive lines as soon as they lost possession.

This denied Sundowns the opportunity to play the ball behind the hosts’ defence and while they enjoyed the bulk of the possession, their play was restricted to the periphery of the final third.

The hosts continued to make sporadic raids on the break and Chirambadare saw his stinger punched over the bar and out for a corner by Sandilands after the Warriors striker had been sent through by Lunga on 51 minutes.

Chicken Inn defender Lawrence Mhlanga had to put his body on the line to block a goal bound cracker by Sundowns linkman Mzikayise Mashaba with 10 minutes left on the clock and the hosts held on for a historic win.

The second leg is set for Lucas Moripe Stadium in Pretoria in a fortnight.