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Gilbert Nyamutsamba

Eddie Chikamhi Senior Sports Reporter
In a 2017 sporting season in which national teams struggled to make an impression on the international stage, the Zimbabwe sevens rugby side provided the silver lining by securing a place at the World Cup finals in the United States this year.

The Cheetahs towered above all other teams including the Sables when they finished runners-up in the Africa Cup and more importantly secured a ticket to World Cup scheduled for July. In a season that also saw flickers of brilliance from cricket, netball and the individual genius of Samson Muripo and Tanya Muzinda.

The Cheetahs were fittingly voted the Team of the Year at the Annual National Sports Awards after they outshone all the local teams by defying odds to secure their place at the tournament in San Francisco, USA.

Despite struggling for resources Gilbert Nyamutsamba’s men grabbed one of the two tickets to the global show-piece after finishing behind Uganda in the qualifying Rugby Africa Sevens tournament in Kampala.

With that showing in Kampala, the Cheetahs also secured a place at the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series core status qualifier at the Hong Kong Sevens. Nyamutsamba ensured there would be a memorable 2017 for the Cheetahs when he was also voted the Coach of the Year at the ANSA awards.

The Cheetahs success also helped restored some glory in rugby following the disappointing run by the Sables —the XVs side — who performed dismally in the Rugby Africa Gold Cup. Away from the pitch and in the Zimbabwe Rugby Union boardroom order was also restored following the election of a substantive executive led by Aaron Jani. In cricket it was a tale of a mixed bag of fortunes.

The Chevrons’ record against the Test playing nations was as bad as one could ever imagine but their performance in Sri Lanka where they won their maiden series against the hosts was the stuff that history is made of. Their 3-2 victory shocked the cricket world and is also marked Zimbabwe’s first series win away in eight years.

Tanya Muzinda

Zimbabwe also became the first team to chase down a 300+ score in Sri Lanka in the first of the five ODIs when they overturned a target of 316 and win the match by six wickets, thanks to Solomon Mire’s maiden century. As has become the norm, games were few and far between and this has been the Chevrons’ biggest undoing over the years.

But Heath Streak’s men were on many a times miserable beginning with the ODI series loss to Afghanistan at the start of 2017 to their last engagement of the year when they were humiliated by neighbours South Africa last week in a pioneering four-day Test in Port Elizabeth.

The gulf in class between the two nations was laid bare when the match that was meant to end in four days was wrapped up in just two days after Zimbabwe were bowled out for 68 and 121 runs.

It was also year of mixed fortunes for the Warriors, who somewhat atoned for a poor African Cup of Nations campaign in Gabon in February by winning a record fifth COSAFA Castle Cup in South Africa in July, albeit under a different guard.

The Warriors’ winless run at the Nations Cup cost Callisto Pasuwa his job and as the year cantered to a close, ZIFA appointed the national team’s most successful coach Sunday Chidzambwa to take charge of the senior side on a substantive basis.

Chidzambwa was in charge on caretaker basis when he guided the Warriors to COSAFA Castle Cup success and now the veteran coach has been mandated to lead Zimbabwe to possible qualification for the 2019 Nations Cup in Cameroon.

Netball experienced another exciting year as the senior team picked gold at the Hong Kong tri-nations in March. Although they could not defend their title at the Africa Championships in Uganda they were able to clinch bronze. They concluded their year on a high note when they scooped another gold medal at the Pent Series in Namibia.

The young Gems made their maiden appearance at the World Youth Cup in Botswana and were ninth out of the 20 countries that took part. For athletics, it was the juniors who posted some positive results last year with the team at the African Junior Championships amassing nine medals including three gold.

Rising triple jumper Chengetayi Mapaya was star of the team when he settled for a gold medal with a 16.30m leap at the continental championships. Mapaya’s 16.30m jump saw him setting a new record for the junior championships.

For the first time in many years, Zimbabwe got one of their athletes, Vimbai Maisvoreva reaching the finals of the IAAF World U-18 Championships when she made it to the last eight of the girls 800m in Kenya. She finished sixth in the five-day meet that attracted more than 800 athletes from 131 countries.

Zimbabwe’s Davis Cup team bounced back into the Europe/Africa Zone Group II when they beat Kenya in the promotional play-offs in May, which was also another positive development for the country. They had been relegated to Africa Zone Group III in 2016.

While most national teams struggled on the bigger international stage, there were some brilliant individual performances by Zimbabwe’s athletes with Karateka Samson Muripo consolidating his status as one of the top athletes in the country when he claimed gold at the Third International So-Kyokushin Karate Tournament in Ahvaz, Iran, in February.

He went on to finish second in the Under-90kg weight division and third place in the kata competition. Muripo also successfully went through a technical Dan promotion to fifth Dan in India to become Shihan (master) in September. He capped a brilliant season by claiming the ANSA Sports-person of the Year award.

Muripo’s ANSA predecessor, top boxer Charles Manyuchi hit a new low in his career when he succumbed to a surprise first round knock-out to Qudratillo Abduqaxorov in Singapore in March and lost the WBC silver Welterweight title. The loss to the Uzbek fighter stirred angry responses from the generality of Zimbabweans.

Samson Muripo

Manyuchi was knocked out in just two minutes and 56 seconds by the 23-year old Uzbek sensation in a fight the Zimbabwean had been billed to dominate and win easily. The Chivu pugilist became the WBC welterweight silver champion last year in May when he beat Russia’s Dmitry Mikhaylenko in his backyard.

However, Manyuchi has since begun his journey to redemption on a positive note when he beat Democratic Republic of Congo boxer Sherif Kasongo by a unanimous points’ decision in a non-title fight in Zambia. Female motocross rider Tanya Muzinda made it again on the ANSA short-list and walked away with the Junior Sports-person of the Year award.

Muzinda (13) has had a fulfilling year in which she won two bronze medals at two major motocross events in England in May and September last year. Another teenage motocross rider Daiyaan Manuel (13) was last year crowned the 65cc A Champion after competing in the tough seven-round South African National Championship series which ran from February to October.

Manuel also helped Zimbabwe to finish second behind continental heavyweights South Africa during last year’s FIM Africa Motocross of African Nations which were held in Botswana towards the end of August. Motor racing driver Axcil Jefferies also hoisted the country’s flag high on the international scene.

Some aggressive racing resulted in Jefferies and his teammate Rik Breukers finishing the final two European races in fourth and second place which placed them in a very respectable second place overall in the European Lamborghini Super Trofeo Championship at their first attempt.

In that European season Jefferies and Breukers finished with a total nine podiums including two wins.