Zim Regional Annual Sport Awards nominees unveiled

Ministry of Youth ,Sport, Arts and Recreation together with the  Sports Recreation Commission (SRC) unveiled the country’s top 3 finalists for the Regional Annual Sport  Awards (RASA) which are run by the African Union Sports Council Region 5 (AUSC) to be held on 25 May in Namibia , Friday.

By Tendai Chisiri

The press conference for the unveiling ceremony was held at the Ministry’s offices in Harare.

5 athletes and 1 journalist have been nominated in the top 3 and these are, Gilbert Nyamutsamba – Coach of the year (Rugby 7s Coach), Ryan Gwidzima – Junior Sportsperson of the year (Squash), Lorryn Ashley Bass – Junior Female Sportsperson of the year (Rowing), Wilfred Mashaya – Sports Man of the year (Martial Arts – Kobodu) who is also in the Sports Person of the year category (Martial Arts – Kobodu), Margaret Bangajena – Sports Woman of the year with disability (Wheel Chair Racing) and Tinashe Tirivavi – Sports Journalist of the year (The Mirror of Masvingo).

Deputy Minister of Youth Sport, Arts and Recreation Hon. Yeukai Simbanegavi in a speech applauded the sportspersons for being competitive and commended the adjudication system that was deployed at a local level by our Adjudicators.”It should be put on record that this is the first time in the history of Zimbabwe, since the inception of RASA to have our sportspersons making it 7 out of 9 categories”, she said.

She also noted out that the current Minister of Youth, Sport, Arts and Recreation Hon. Dr Kirsty Coventry made it into the top 3 of 2 categories in 2016 and went on to win the Sports Woman of the year. History is a living tissue to Wilfred Mashaya who also repeated the same feat, by being in the top 3 of the contestants in Sports Man of the year and Sports Person of the year categories.

Athletes present at the press conference, Margaret Bangajena and Lorryn Ashley Bass concurred that it was through hard work and dedication for them to be nominated for the prestigious awards and were both exhilarated by their achievement.

Deputy Director of SRC Ignatius Vambe said, “The achievement by our athletes encourages upcoming athletes to take sport seriously as the awards come with financial benefits for the athletes”.

The awards are the regional sporting pinnacle that brings together 10 member states’ outstanding sports persons who would have excelled in their annual sports awards.
Nine of the 10 member countries who have entered the winners of their national sport awards as nominees for RASA 2019 include Angola (coming for the first time) Botswana, Lesotho, Eswatini, Malawi, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Mozambique is the tenth country.