Ray Bande
Senior Reporter
WHILE their male counterparts, Tenax FC, have tried long and hard, but failed to assert their dominance in higher echelons of football competitions, Mutare netball outfit, Tenax Queens, have remained a feared outfit in the Rainbow National League (RANL) where they have personalised the fourth position since joining the league.
The Pauline Chikonye-powered club has been a good advert to the standards of the game of netball in Manicaland since their inclusion in RANL in 2018.
However, Chikonye, who has managed to attain six best player accolades in the first half of the season, and is currently sitting on position six on the best players’ list, is not a lone ranger as the star-studded club that boasts of a number of exceptionally talented players, including the gifted workaholic, Chido Nenhunzi.
Tenax Queens are proving to be the Manicaland’s version of Women of Steel, if their recent performance and dedication to the game is anything to go by.
And their manager, Fungai Mashiri, is confident that they will go all the way to attain fourth position or better by the end of the 2024 season.
“We just need to attain a better position in the league. We have been on the fourth position since 2018, and we are aiming at nothing less than that,” he said.
Only last weekend at Chiremba Grounds in Ruwa, Tenax Queens narrowly lost to Mambas 33-32, before thumping hosts, Ruwa 49-39 in the two matches played in that bubble.
Their next bubble will be in Hwange against hosts, Hwange and Yadah Queens.
“Like always, it has been a very challenging competition, and we will try our level best to attain a better position this year by collecting as many point as we can in each bubble,” he said.
Tenax Queens was formed in 2002, and was playing in the Zimbabwe Netball League (ZINA) until 2016.
The team joined the professionally run RANL in 2018.
“We just want to assure those who follow our matches that we will make them proud by the end of the season. We really appreciate their unwavering support, and we will do everything in our powers to make them happy,” he said.
