Cheats. Sex. Betrayal. Excess overtook excellence in Zimbabwe’s sporting year. 2010 also saw its fair share of good, bad and downright ugly – events on and off the pitch. There were men and women of honour who triumphed despite the hardships that are engulfing the country.This is how the year panned out:
The Good:Five-time world champions Brazil brought joy and the euphoria on June 2 despite inflicting defeat on the Zimbabwe Warriors in a World Cup warm-up match. The capital city came to a standstill, Brazil replica jerseys disappeared from the streets and thousands thronged the National Sports Stadium to watch idols like Kaka in action. The Samba Boys rarely play against African opposition and Zimbabwe became the fifth African team from the continent to face the South Americans since 1980.Only Cameroon, Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa had played Brazil in any official form of the game since Zimbabwe attained independence in 1980. The script then changed in June this year.The images of Kaka throwing his famous Number 10 jersey to a lucky fan in Bay 15 will forever be etched in the hearts of thousands of Zimbabweans. The locals then went on to drown their sorrows catching the action of the World Cup across the Limpopo on television while lubricating their throats in bars for a month.Then there is the good tennis queen – Cara Black. While the majority of Zimbabweans cannot afford to watch sport on pay per view stations, the news of Black’s exploits was conveyed by the print media. Black did the country pride by winning two Grand Slams.By winning the 2010 Australian Open title in February, Black completed the mixed doubles Career Grand Slam. She became the sixth female player in history to achieve this. She also won the mixed doubles Wimbledon title last year with Leander Paes. She finished 2010 ranked 46 on the world earnings list having picked US$470 263 on the road.Then is the Golden Girl – Kirsty Coventry. Despite being off the pool for the better of the 2010, Coventry came back in November and picked two bronze and one silver medals in the FINA/Arena World Swimming Championships.The former Warren Park taxi marshal turned boxer Tineyi Maridzo also brought lasting memories by winning the World Boxing Organisation’s African super-middleweight title beating Michael “Mikey” Schultz.Then is the smiling assassin down south called Knowledge Musona who has been banging goals for Kaizer Chiefs.
The BadSunday Chidzambwa sensationally quit the Warriors and so did former captain Benjani Mwaruwari in 2010.The bad side of sport was crystal clear in Tineyi Maridzo, who went to fight in South Africa for the Africa’s super-middleweight title but came home empty handed after promoters ripped off the prize money of R45 000. The boxer pocketed R20 000. The boxer still lives at his father’s Warren Park 1 home together with his spouse and kids.Then there is also the bad side of football, Motor Action being crowned the champions with no cash prize.
The Ugly:Then is the very ugly and football takes the cake. The Asiagate scandal in which the Zimbabwe Warriors were paid to throw away matches made international headlines following the release of the damning report by a probe team headed by Ndumiso Gumede last year. The scandal claimed the scalps of former Zifa chief executive officer Henrietta Rushwaya and programmes manager Jonathan Musavengana. The botched deal to bring in Tom Saintfiet by Zifa also dominated headlines. This is probably the biggest betrayal in sport as Saintfiet was forced to leave his job with Namibia’s Brave Warriors only to be denied a work permit. Saintfiet is fighting to recover his lost earnings from Zifa and is likely to saddle the association with a bill of US$400 000 as the Belgian had signed a legally binding four year contract. The Sport Writers Association of Zimbabwe’s (Swaz) reputation was left in tatters following the executive’s decision to alter the Soccer Star of the Year. Joel Ngodzo who had been controversially selected the best player in the land was dropped for Motor Action’s Charles Sibanda. The first runner-up is Benjamin Marere while the second runner-up is Ngodzo.Cricket also hogged the limelight for the wrong reasons when a Sri Lanka batman Tillakaratne Dilshan was accused of sexually assaulting a woman during the tour in Zimbabwe in 2010. Zimbabwe Cricket confirmed the incident to the international media in a statement. “Zimbabwe Cricket has been advised of an alleged incident involving one of the Sri Lankan cricketers that occurred in the team hotel following their victory in the recently concluded Tri-Nations series in Zimbabwe. Upon further investigation by our security and legal affairs department, we have been informed by the local police that no charges were ever laid by any complainants and no details of the incident were ever specified,” Zimbabwe Cricket said.
