The ManicaPost
MUTARE Girls’ High School hosted a one-day sports gala dubbed The Shumbas Sports Gala where five schools and several clubs participated.
Athletes battled it out in five sporting disciplines.
In basketball, the hosts Mutare Girls’ High School and Sixers were the champions of this year’s edition in the ladies and men’s categories respectively.
Mutare Girls’ High seniors came out first ahead of Bonda, St Matthias Tsonzo, Nyamauru and Mutare Girls’ High (Juniors).
A total of five teams took part in the basketball ladies’ category, while five participated in the men’s category.
In table tennis, there were three age groups.
In the Under-10, Trust Madoro came out first, while Ruva Muwandi won in the Under-15 category.
Brighton Chibwana won in the U-18 category.
Vimbai Makuwaza and Mlungisi Moyo won in the ladies and men open category, respectively.
In women’s volleyball, five teams participated.
On their way to the finals, Bonda dismissed Mutare Poly 3-0, while Mutare Girls’ High beat Tsonzo 3-0 to sail through.
Bonda dismissed the hosts 3-0 to be crowned the champions.
In netball, three teams participated where Bonda came out as winners ahead of Tsonzo and Mutare Girls’ High School.
There was stiff competition in women football where seven teams took part. The teams were grouped into two groups.
In Group A, Yadah Queens finished on top with seven points followed by Sakubva 2 with five points.
Bonda amassed two points, while Mutare Girls’ High was at the bottom with a single point.
In Group B, Zimbabwe National Super League side, Faith Drive were on top with four points from two matches followed by Nyamauru which had four. Tsonzo had nothing to show for their efforts.
In the finals, Faith Drive narrowly edged Nyamauru 1-0 and were crowned the champions.
Rachel Puwai, sports director at Mutare Girls’ High, said the tournament was a success.
She was happy with talent shown by the participants.
“Our tournament is growing each and every year. We started off as Mutare Girls’ High School Sports Gala. This time around we have decided to put our logo on it and renamed it The Shumbas Sports Gala.
“We are very happy with the turn-out. The tournament showed us that there are a lot of talented players around and gave coaches an opportunity to assess players for this year’s NASH Games which will be held next term.
“For now we do not have a sponsor, all we are doing is fundraising for ourselves to be able to award the winners. We want teams to prepare for the NASH Games next term.
“Our teams benefitted a lot from this tournament. Our teams are training all year round and our results as a school have improved a lot,” she said.
The Shumbas Gala was introduced in 2015.
In 2016, it was put on hold as it clashed with other major provincial events.
Winning team in each category walked away with $100 and a trophy, while the runners-up in each category pocketed $75 and $50 for the third placed team respectively.
