Zimpapers Logo

ON TOP OF THE WORLD . . . Gilbert Nyamutsamba enjoyed one of the best moments of his career when he was named Coach of the Year on Wednesday night.

Ellina Mhlanga Sports Reporter
JUST a month after touching the heavens with their qualification for the Rugby Seven World Cup, the Zambezi Cheetahs were celebrating once again on Wednesday night when they scooped a double at the Annual National Sports Awards in Harare.

The Cheetahs were voted the Team of the Year and their mentor Gilbert Nyamutsamba won the Coach of the Year accolade. Nyamutsamba who is also on a mission to help Zimbabwe qualify for the Sevens Core Status in Kong in April next year, said their 2017 successes and the awards they received on the ANSA night would spur them on to grow.

In a year in which domestic rugby hogged the limelight for the wrong reasons with bickering and a collapse of business at the Zimbabwe Rugby Union, the Cheetahs were the silver lining that shone through the dark cloud in the sport.

Now with sanity having been restored with the coming in of a constitutionally elected leadership at ZRU, there is hope that the game can build on the Cheetahs success to grow in its other facets such as the Sables, the Women and the Young Sables.

The Cheetahs are however, the in-thing in local rugby at the moment and on Wednesday, Nyamutsamba and his men were full value for the awards which they took on the night, which should leave them in buoyant mood as they prepare to regroup for the 2018 World Cup in the United States. Nyamutsamba said the awards can only be a motivation for them to work even harder.

“We are excited and lots of hard work was put in this year and to then get to the end of the year and get recognition for the hard work that’s the most pleasing thing and the most rewarding that you put in hard work and you get rewarded. So yes I am very pleased for the two awards that the team has managed to get.

“Most definitely (it’s a motivation), as long as one gets rewarded for hard work, I see that the players are actually going to give more. So we are going to demand for more from the players and we are going to start our World Cup preparations mid-January. And thereafter its business as usual just hard work on the park and hopefully we build a better and stronger team going forward,” said Nyamutsamba.

The Cheetahs coach declared that they are not going to the World Cup to just fulfil the fixtures but would want to make an impression.

“We have got several tournaments before the World Cup but the big one is the Hong Kong one that’s in April. By the time we get to Hong Kong we should be at a position whereby it will give us a good measure on how we are going to perform at the World Cup.

“We are not going to the World Cup just to take part, we really want to go there to actually stamp our authority, to actually show that we do belong with the top 24 teams in the world. So yes that’s our target we want to go to the World Cup to actually be counted. It’s ended on a high but it was very tough and challenging year and I am glad that we have ended on a good note, things can only get better 2018,” said Nyamutsamba.

The awards held to celebrate sporting excellence by Zimbabwean athletes saw karateka Samson Muripo being crowned the Sportsperson of the Year for the second time and he received $5 000. He also took the Sportsman of the Year award.

“I am deeply humbled by these achievements after having been highly recognised by the authorities that shepherd us. It is quite motivational and encouraging. It has been a tough journey but it changed my life. God stretched, strengthened my mind, my physical being and the one inside me, my spirit. God networked me with people that saw my passion and fighting will,” said Muripo.

Junior Sportsperson of the Year and rising tennis star Mehluli Sibanda got $2 000. It was also a double for Sibanda as he received the Junior Sportsman of the Year award. The 18-year-old, who was accompanied by his father Tendai could not hide his joy.

“It feels good, eventually the hard work pays-off…So it feels good to get these trophies. I just have to keep on working hard to get more of these. I wasn’t expecting to win any of these and I did, so I am grateful,” said Sibanda.

His father said it’s good for his son to be acknowledged for his good but noted that they still have a long way to scale great heights. Prophet Healing Deliverance Ministries leader Prophet Walter Magaya made a brief appearance at the Awards gala to receive the Special Acknowledgement award for his contribution into sport.

Magaya has been involved a lot with football where he has been ZIFA’s benefactor and was instrumental in the staging of the Warriors legends match against Barcelona legends last month in partnership with the Ministry of Sport, Arts and Recreation.