Ngezi Platinum new brooms impress Chiragwi
NGEZI Platinum Stars coach Takesure Chiragwi is backing his recruits to play a pivotal role in the team’s quest for success this year.
Chiragwi’s charges opened the season in the best possible way by winning the Castle Challenge Cup after beating Dynamos 2-0 at Baobab on Saturday.
He threw in three new players in the starting eleven with man-of-the-match Richard Hachiro taking the anchor role while Talent Chamboko deployed at leftback in the coach’s 4-3-3 formation.
Tinashe Mashaireni, who was elevated from the Ngezi Platinum development team partnered Hachiro and Leslie Kashitigu in midfield.
Another recruit Never Tigere was a second-half replacement for the injured Chamboko.
The quartet gave a good shift much to the amusement of Chiragwi.
“I am very happy with how my new players applied themselves in this big match against a big team,” said Chiragwi.
“When we sat down to assess who we could take to try and strengthen the team, we agreed with my colleagues to go for these guys.
“The programme will change a bit. We are changing to focus more on the speed, to enable him to run a 21km (race). “So there are changes. It switches from the heavy load that we were putting on him into something faster but still with the key aspects of speed, power, flexibility, and other components.
“We won’t change much of the aspects but the loading aspect will definitely change, and the splits are now going to be slightly faster than they were before.
“We looked at their quality and that’s how we ended up settling for them. I am very happy to see them giving us what they gave us on Saturday.
“I believe they have what it takes to drive the team into achieving set goals. What is important is for us to play as a team and to be a team on and off the field of play.”
Forward Obriel Chirinda, who stands accused of signing a contract with Dynamos before joining Ngezi Platinum, watched from the stands alongside the likes of Delic Murimba, Carlos Mavhurume, and captain Qadr Amini.
The new players said they were ready to step up and do the job for the reigning league champions.
Tigere, who was with FC Platinum before his move to Azam in Tanzania, four years ago said he decided to join the Mhondoro team because he saw a lot of potential in the team.
“I am ready to play a big role at Ngezi Platinum Stars. They have their roadmap and it impressed me a lot that’s why I decided to settle for them,” said Tigere.
“My aim here is clear. I want to help the team win the league title and other knockout tournaments like the Chibuku Super Cup.
“Individually, I am also out to win trophies.
“So whatever we were doing we are now going to be faster because we are now building on speed,” said Chauke.
Blessing Waison, who is also an Olympic hopeful was part of the athletes that competed at the Kazungula marathon and came second in 2 hours 15 minutes.
Tendai Zimuto took part in the 10km race at the same event and finished fourth.
Zimuto is also in camp, training under the guidance of Chauke. He is scheduled to compete at the Enschede Marathon in the Netherlands on April 21. I was at FC Platinum in 2019 and we won the league title. I was on the Soccer Stars calendar.
“But this season, ideally, I would like to work very hard and possibly win the Soccer Star of the Year accolade.
“I am happy with how the team has embraced not only me but all the other new players at the club. We feel very much at home and the environment is ideal for success.”
Hachiro, who was with Chicken Inn last year is praying that injuries spare him this time around.
“Last year, I started the season very well at Chicken Inn. But I was then grounded by an injury for the better part of the season before I returned towards the end,” said Hachiro.
“I am someone who hasn’t been very lucky with injuries. So my prayer for this season is for injuries to spare me.
“I am very happy to be at Ngezi Platinum Stars. I feel very much at home here. I have players who I have played with at different clubs like Carlos (Mavhurume). I am really happy to be here and the dream is to do well both in the league and in the CAF Champions League.”
Chamboko and Mashaireni echoed the same sentiments.
“He (Zimuto) is going for an Olympic qualifying race. We are getting there, we are still working on his legs to get used to running 42km. He was not used to it, so we are building up on that now. So we will see as we progress how it goes but the baseline is there,” said Chauke.
The qualification period for the marathon closes on April 30.
The qualifying time for men is 2 hours 8 minutes 10 seconds. Women are chasing a qualifying time of 2 hours 26 minutes 50 seconds.
DYNAMOS have been reminded that a big brand alone is no longer enough to lure the best footballing talent in the country.
As the 2024 Castle Lager Premier Soccer League season gets close, Dynamos are licking their wounds after missing out on virtually all the big-name players they had targeted and will now resort to Plan B as they also prepare for the CAF Confederation Cup.
Dynamos were after the signatures of Walter Musona, Khama Billiat, Kuda Mahachi, Billy Vheremu, Mthokozosi Msebe, and Obriel Chirinda as their top targets and seemed favourites for Billiat, Mahachi, and Chirinda.
However, Dynamos lost all of them to league rivals of small stature.
Apart from missing out on potential signings, Dynamos even failed to hold on to Junior Makunike who was within their ranks last season.
Now what promised to be a major project for coach Genesis Mangombe might end up being a makeshift squad.
Speaking to Zimpapers Sports, Mangombe revealed monetary issues made the club lose the signatures of their targeted players.
He, however, believes they have the situation under control despite the humiliation on the transfer market.
“When you consider a player to join
THE Zimbabwe Boxing Federation (ZBF) technical director Steven Masiyambumbi says they were impressed by the local boxers’skills displayed at the national open tournament at the weekend.
The championships, which were held at the Victoria Falls Boxing Academy on Saturday, had 70 bouts and from the fights, a team was selected to represent the country at the Mandela Boxing Cup slated for April in Durban, South Africa.
Masiyambumbi told Zimpapers Sports they were now in the process of assessing the selected team, of which by the end of the week, the ZBF will release the list.
He said this year’s national tournament was a success and they were pleased with the displays in the ring.“We are happy to say the event was a success. This year’s edition impressed in that the boxers brought in a new dimension and skills. The boxers entertained and gave people the best boxing display. We applaud them for that.
“The team has been selected and by the end of the week, we will release the names. These will make up the team that will take part in the Mandela Boxing Cup in South Africa in April. This year’s national tournament counts as one of the best in previous years. This was our first competition of the year. It was one that I will describe you it means you know they will be quite good to your system and they will be a good addition to the squad,’’ said Mangombe.
“We failed to acquire some of the players we thought were a priority to add to the squad due to several reasons, top of the lift being financial issues. We had negotiations with several targets that went well.
“But what happens when you fail to bring the players you consider as your Plan A it means you move on and work with what is available. Plan A is always the best but it doesn’t mean that Plan B won’t work as well if A fails.
“The reality is you have to work with what you can afford and what is there and bring the best of available resources.”
Mangombe believes that the recent 2-0 loss to Ngezi Platinum in the Castle Challenge Cup does not reflect much in the way the team will fare in the league.
“The loss was a big wake-up call to some of the players who might have thought that everything would come on a silver platter. There is a lot of work to be done and it was a big opportunity for our foreign guys to see how things work here.
“But league football is yet to start. We remain Dynamos and we won’t be intimidated. Losing matches is part of the game, many factors are considered behind every loss, and we pick up from there and continue,” he said. as the best when compared to last year,” said Masiyambumbi. In the results compiled by ZBF, in the junior category bouts, Brendan Chipunza of Njube Boxing Club beat Sikhanyiso Ngwenya of Victoria Falls Boxing Academy 2-1.
In the junior female bouts, McPride Mathe (Victoria Falls Academy) was the better of Vanessa Konje (Njube) by 2-1.
Tinotenda Bernard (Roygri) won on a split decision against Mercy Mpanza of Victoria Falls.
Marshal Shiri (Zimbabwe National Army HQ1) punched out Wisdom Dude of Shumba Club 2-1. In the final team list from the tournament, names that are likely to feature include Chilemeko Mudenda (Victoria Falls Academy), Cranos Chinembiri (FTP), Lwazi Mpofu (HQ1), Jayden Frank (Young Arts), Ashel Nyani (Roygri), Michael Mathe (Victoria Falls Academy), Tadiwa Kwaramba (Roygri) and Somandla Sibanda (Njube).
Others expected to cut are Tichaona Ruzvidzo (Roygri), Sean Pambeni (Victoria Falls), Mqhele Moyo (Hwange), Vimbaishe Muranda (Shumba), Mandlenkosi Marusenga (Mutonhori), Layton Munyeme (Victoria Falls Academy), Lennox Chigango (Victoria Falls Academy), Sam Bradford and Takudzwa Kimbini of Shaka.
Masiyambumbi said they are keen to have a team of 13 male and 12 female boxers to go for the Mandela Boxing Cup.*