Mighty Warriors - can it be any tougher?

BY GRACE CHIRUMANZU
The Young Mighty Warriors head off next to Nigeria’s Ogun State riding the crest of a wave.
The national Under-20 women’s soccer side recently made light work of Mozambique, thumping their neighbour 7-0 in the first round of the FIFA World Cup qualifier. But Nigeria are not Mozambique, or are they?
This is what the Langton Giwa-coached side will help us find out when the two sides face-off in the second round of the same tournament on Saturday, 31 March. Having participated in all five World Cups since 2002, the Super Falconets are not an ordinary opposition.
They were the first African nation to reach the finals of the prestigious event – losing 0-2 to hosts, Germany, two years ago. Giwa’s charges will be under-dogs when they march onto the turf at the weekend. But that does not mean that they cannot twist the scales.
The West Africans are taking this game seriously, having set up a two week training camp in Abuja that continues in Abeokuta this week, under the guidance of newly-appointed coach, Kadiri Ikhana. History says he led Enyimba Football Club to their maiden CAF Champions League victory in 2003.
The Zimbabweans have no international experience to brag about – both on the bench and within the lines, but the talent displayed by Rufaro Machingura, Emmaculate Msipa and Rutendo Makore has raised hopes.
“It will be a tough match,” said assistant coach, Sithethelelwe Sibanda. “Nigeria are experienced and they know what they want, but we have also prepared well and the girls know how tough this is going to be. I believe they are also mentally prepared.”
While the Zimbabweans were celebrating their more than half a dozen goals over Mozambique, Nigeria were enjoying the comfort of easing through, after Sierra Leone pulled out for financial challenges.
Germany, Italy, Norway and Switzerland (UEFA); Japan (host), North Korea, China and
Korea Republic (AFC); and Argentina and Brazil (CONMEBOL) have already qualified for the global showcase.
The Young Mighty Warriors are seeking to occupy the two slots for African teams, as eight compete in the second round (between 30 March and 15 April). The third round is set for May 4-20.

The women besides the driver

BY GRACE CHIRUMANZU

Jess Watson cruised to the ramp of the 2012 Toyota Challenge Rally together with his co-driver, wife Sasha in a first couple victory in 32-years.

Sasha one of the women participants in this year’s showcase was pleased to have been the woman besides the victorious man, Jess, to champion the three-day competition in a time of 2 hours 40 minutes 17 seconds.

“Initially that (being in motorsport) was not my choice, it was my husband’s and I decided to follow in his footsteps to support him. I have rallied with him twice so far and each time I have enjoyed it,”said Sasha.

“The race was tight at the beginning and I am happy that we managed to win, it was just unfortunate to have other good drivers pulling out after the challenges they faced.”

Bronwyn Ebrahim, wife to Ronald Parsell, was also one of the female co-drivers navigating their partners in the Challenge Rally, last weekend.

Women are generally known to have a gentle tough to almost everything they do, with most of them being critical of male drivers speeding on the road. But Sasha and Bronwyn declared they loved speed.

“I am pretty much of a adrenaline junkie by nature, I have always been. So I have always felt very safe with him (Jess).” said Sasha Watson.

Bronwyn added, “I have always loved speed, during my childhood I was the fastest on my bike and so now I want to be the fastest in the cars. I remember when I did my first motor rally experience in 2006 it was out of this world and I kept telling the driver “faster!!”

“I love our partnership (with Parsell) because he hardly ever doubts me because if the turn is right round the corner you can go maximum speed and tell him it’s about time to turn so he trusts my call, which is a good thing.”

Parsell and his 39-year-old wife, Bronwyn, who is a mother of seven, finished the competition on position six.

Mguni fights stigma to rise to the top

BY GRACE CHIRUMANZU
A bad asthma attack during her childhood each time
she tried to run, like the other kids of her age, could have took charge of her life and discouraged her to be the sportsperson she wished to be growing up in
Harare’s high-density suburb of Highfield.
But neither did asthma nor eczema pulled her down
from being the person she wanted to be in life, a self motivated chief executive of the Zimbabwe Olympic Committee (ZOC). Anna Mguni ignored the bad
aspect of her health to focus more on her strengths and this has seen her emerge as the boss of the country’s Olympic Games governing board.
“I was a very sickly child suffering from asthma and
eczema to the extent that doctors said I could not do any normal activities that requires exertion. Watching other kids knowing that if ever I start running my parents will say don’t run, don’t do this, you will cough; was just bad because I really wanted to be like other kids. I spent days in hospital and
even had a near death experience, it was just bad,” she recalls.
The negative comments about her seemingly peeling skin from eczema rather encouraged her to stand for who she was inside. She did not allow people to take away the courage in her.
“I also suffered from eczema and back then I was stigmatised; people would look at me strangely and ask what was wrong with my skin and what is going on? I grew up to be so defensive on whether why I wassick or why my skin had broken out. It really toughened me into realising that
there is a border line, that (sickness) is not really important –there are more important things to life than that,” she said.
Mguni, a single mother of two girls, who was appointed as the ZOC CEO following Stanley Mutoya’s resignation last November may have faced a jittery start to her new career faced with preparations for the high profile London 2012 Olympic Games set for July, but that has not been the case.
The former national basketball team and Real Returners star acknowledges the help of her two predecessors, Mutoya and Robert Mutsauki, who have assisted with a smooth flow of information and advice. She insisted that for women to be successful and take up decision-making positions in Zimbabwe, they need not challenge men but realise that it is their support
they need.
“We are not really challenging them (men) but we need their support for more women to end take up these decision-making posts,” said Mguni.
Being a woman at the helm of one of the country’s sports board, it is tempting for some people to quickly judge her as a potential failure after the Asiagate scandal unearthed by the media proved to have been masterminded by an allegedly corrupt fellow woman, Henrietta Rushwaya.
Mguni refuses to be painted with the same dirty brush.
“I see it as a challenge, we need to assist our men get over this cultural perspective because if it was a man they would not paint every man with the same brush so why do one have to do that because it is a woman?” she questioned.
“It is a difficult system to fight but we need to work through it by education and also by just being clean in our dealings. It is up to us the women in whatever profession we are in we need to be
professional. Otherwise we lose our credibility a lot faster than they (men) do.”
She has a traceable record as a sports administrator and her passion for the field can never be questioned. She captained her basketball and hockey team at High School and the team sport has taught her to work with others and learn from their ideas.
From a tricky childhood to teaching Geography at Vulindlela Secondary school in rural Matabeleland where there was no electricity, shortage of textbooks and having to extract all notes for students, Mguni realised how she was a source of information for her students.
She is proud to have been a teacher saying the experience taught her how to deal with people and groomed her into an innovative strong woman.
For the highs and lows that characterised her life, Mguni has so many lessons to learn from it. The most important lesson being that one “may be bad in some aspect of your life but it is certainly not everything about you that is bad. So, why not focus on the good.”
Her vision goes beyond the 2012 games in London as she hopes to “go further in sports administration and follow in the footsteps of Robert Mutsauki who is now with ANOCA and Tomy Sithole who is now with the IOC.”

Source: The Zimbabwean newspaper.