Sports Reporter
ZIFA Epworth Area Zone Football League chairman Innocent Chinosengwa says the Mwalimu Kumbula football tournament held on Saturday at Kubatana Primary School has proved to be a perfect platform for youths within the community to showcase their skills.
The tournament, which was inaugurated in 2015, is the brainchild of one of Epworth’s most illustrious sons — Musekiwa Kumbula — who named it after his son Mwalimu when he discovered the passion he had for football and felt the urge to uplift the community by giving opportunities to young talented footballers there.
The event this year saw Under-14s, Under-17s and senior teams fighting for the honours in the finals having emerged tops in the preliminary rounds.
The Open category that caters for seniors was won by Liverpool Stars who beat Chiremba 1-0 in the final.
Liverpool Stars, which also had junior teams, emerged victorious in the Under-17 age-group when they defeated Chiremba 4-2 on penalties. The match had ended in a 1-1 stalemate in regulation time.
However, in the Under-14 age-group, Liverpool Stars could not maintain the same momentum as they went down to Epworth Saints 4-5 on penalties.
The two sides had settled for a goalless draw. Chinosengwa said the objective of the tournament is to showcase the abundant talent within the Epworth community.
“Mr (Musekiwa) Kumbula himself is very eager to promote football at grassroots level hence he is sponsoring this tournament. Epworth is an underrated area but there is a lot of football talent which with those tournament can be easily identified.
“As a parent from the area and football loving parent he decided to sponsor the juniors at grassroots level and he is so eager to support the community.
“For example Ronald Chitiyo, he grew up in Epworth . . . So with these tournaments I can rest assure you that it’s going to be easy for coaches to identify players. We had the ZIFA technical director (Wilson Mutekede), he was there to witness the tournament.
“Our aim and vision is to promote football at grassroots level. That’s the main vision for sponsoring this tournament,” said Chinosengwa.
Chinosengwa said the tournament has become popular in Epworth since the inaugural event in 2015.
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