Mlilo revels in ANSA honour
THEY say every dog has its day and on 20 January 2017, it was squash referee, Lucky Mlilo’s day as he was finally recognised for his astute work that he has been doing in the sport.
Mlilo was named the 2016 Annual National Sports Awards (ANSA) Technical Official of the Year during the awards ceremony held in Harare last Friday.
Squash ranks outside the popular sporting codes in the country with few people giving it a thought and remains on the fringes of the sporting world being considered a minority sports.
For a practitioner of the sport to win an award ahead of other individuals in other popular codes can only be down to serious hard work.
The Zimbabwe Squash Association chairman said he was happy to be finally getting recognition after storming the world stage of squash referring in 2012 when he took up an assignment at the World Master Championship in Birmingham, United Kingdom.
“Winning the award is really a big encouragement for the efforts that I have been making in the sport over the years and I am glad some people were watching. I am really over the moon, particularly the fact that I am coming from one of the so-called minority sports,” he said.
Mlilo said once he realised that his name appeared in the top three he gained confidence it could be his day, making an effort to find out if he had made the shortlist after Sports and Recreation Commission officials failed to notify him.
After learning that his name was part of the five-name long list, Mlilo kept his eyes glued to the Press and his ear to the radio did not come across the shortlist prompting him to give the SRC a ring as he felt something was coming his way.
“When the initial nominees list was released my name was there and I had to wait for it to be trimmed to three final names with an announcement scheduled for 16 January but I scoured the papers, social media and kept my ears on the radio but I heard nothing only for me to call the SRC on Thursday and was told I had made it. Having refereed on the world stage last year I felt I could upstage the others and walk away with the award,” he said.
Mlilo had to shrug off the challenge of Agnes Chiroodza (netball) and Debi Jeans (Triathlon).
The 51-year-old was part of the referees at the Al Ahram Professional Squash Association Championships held at New Giza, Cairo, Egypt in September last year and was also the centre man at the World Masters Squash Championships held in Johannesburg, South Africa in the same month. Both tournaments attracted the world’s best players.
He said he started refereeing by chance after other players recommended his work ethic and professionalism.
“I went to play in Malawi in 2007 and the norm was that players also become match officials in other games and after doing my duty the players commended me and two years later when I took part in the Namibia Open, I received the similar comments and this prompted me to attend a two day World Referees Conference in Paderbon, Germany where I attended refereeing courses,” added Mlilo, who is also the chief executive of Association of Business Zimbabwe.
The Zimbabwe Squash Association chairman, has also been tournament referee at three All Africa Juniors in 2012 (Harare), 2013 (Windhoek, Namibia), 2015 (Gaborone, Botswana), featured at the All Africa seniors in Windhoek in 2013, officiated at the Men’s World Team Championship in 2013 France and was international referee at the Lagos International.
Mlilo, who also holds the post of vice-president (Southern Region) of the Africa Squash Federation, is a keen follower of football and supporters Liverpool and is a member of Highlanders Football Club.
He is also the president of the Zimbabwe Institute of Management. He is married to Sikhangele and they have three boys.