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Mbachi Mutukula-Maregere Sports Reporter
ABIGAIL Mnikwa started from the bottom, but she kept wearing her running shoes and now she has reached the top.

But it hasn’t been easy.

Six years ago she was kicked out of Dynamos, where she was a physiotherapist, by the club’s leadership and fans.

Mnikwa took her case to the High Court which ordered her reinstatement with damages.

She says her romance with football ended then, now she is having one with rugby.

“Now it is the least thing I think of (football). I had no problems in moving on to rugby because I had already established myself at rugby,” she said.

“I can never go back to football, I am glad that I am recognised in rugby big time.

“People should look at South Africa. Why is it that they dominate most sporting disciplines? It is because they work towards development and not demoralising women in sport.

“I knew I was going to do well and even become the best woman physiotherapist for our sport, I kept on running and I made it to the top.

“I am proud of myself and it is sad that both my parents are no more otherwise they would have been proud also.”

Mnikwa first got involved in rugby in 2006 when she was appointed physiotherapist for the Zimbabwe Under-19 side that had qualified for the World Championships.

“I have several role models for the different facets of my life. The major one will always be my late mum Violet K Mnikwa. She was everything I aspire to be as a woman.

“I have been very fortunate in rugby as most people have been very supportive of the work that I am doing,” said Mnikwa.

She was born in a family of three and she is the oldest and the only female.

She went to Queen Elizabeth School and graduated at the University of Zimbabwe.