Fierce fight
awaits Tanga rally
By Burton Brown
A tough battle is expected in the coming third National Rally
Championship in Tanga next week. Five top Kenyan drivers and the accomplished
members of STADO Rally team have all reported their participation.
The news reached The Express this week that all members of the STADO will race
in their 2004 model Subaru Impreza classed in Group N.
The team’s spokesman said that Pano Calavria, Saleh Balhabou, Ahmed Huwel, Omar
Bakhressa and Sameer Nahdi Shanto all had their cars set for the fast Tanga
rally, to be held in the region April 16 and 17.
The current leaders in Tanzania seeding points, Kirit Pandya and Asit Thanki,
will be also in Tanga in their efforts to win this year’s overall championship.
These drivers have so far collected 144 points, followed by Pano Calavria with
96 points and Navraj Hans and Salim Haji with 60 points each.
In Tanga, the region’s ace drivers, Issa Mohamed, Hassan Mamdali, Baghoza, Awadh
Bafadhil, Abdul Mohamed and Ahmed Said will not allow the title to slip through
their fingers.
“We are going to perform better than what we did in the Knight Support
International rally and make Tanga win the title on home ground for the first
time,” remarked Issa Mohamed.
Five Kenyan drivers are expected to participate in the Tanga 500 rally in their
bid to win East African seeding points.
The Chairman of Tanga Motor Sports Club (TMSC), Hussein Moor, told The Express
that top drivers like Azar Anwar, Asad Khan and John Ngunjiri are expected to
display Kenyan experience in Tanga in the event.
“However, the Kenyan motor sports body did not reveal all the names of the
drivers coming to race in Tanga. We expect to have the list of all drivers by
early next week,” said Moor.
Union
Basketball League now set for April 23
By Shaaban Omary
The Tanzania Basketball Federation (TBF) has set April 23 as the new
date for the Union League at the TCC ground in Dar es Salaam.
The TBF acting Secretary General, Ahmed Simba, said that the federation was
forced to arrange new dates, due to the arrival of the Development and
International Relations Officer of the Federation of International Basketball
(FIBA), Lavodrama Anicet.
“We want him to assess the standard of the sport during his visit. That’s why we
have decided to postpone the event,” said Simba.
Earlier, the league was planned to start April 2 to produce two women’s and
men’s teams for the African Clubs’ Championship later this year.
Teams lined up for the seven-day Union League are: Vijana (alias City Bulls),
the Army Basketball Club (ABC), JKT and Mainland Savio.
Participating women’s teams are: Jeshi Stars, JKT, Police Tanga and Magereza.
Other participating teams come from Zanzibar and include Stone Town and Usolo.
Mwanza to host
Kagame Cup
By Burton Brown
The organisers of the East and Central African Club Championship Challenge Cup
have picked CCM Kirumba Stadium as the sole venue of this year’s event,
scheduled to kick off April 23 in Mwanza.
Earlier it was decided that two venues, Sheikh Amri Abeid Memorial Stadium of
Arusha and CCM Kirumba Stadium would co-host the Cup.
The Secretary General of the Council East and Central African Football
Association (CECAFA), Nicholas Musonye, told The Express that the decision to
change venues was reached in a meeting held over the weekend in Nairobi Kenya.
“Kagame Cup will be in Mwanza where all 22 matches of the championship will kick
off,” he stressed.
Ugandan champions, SC Villa and the Tanzanian counterparts, Simba SC will meet
each other in the opening match on April 23.
According to Musonye, other teams to compete in the tournament include
titleholders APR of Rwanda, Mtibwa Sugar (Tanzania), Awasa Kenema (Ethiopia) and
KMKM (Zanzibar) who will play in Group B.
Group A will have Ulinzi (Kenya) Rayon Sport [Rwanda] and Gendarmerie Nationale
(Djibouti) and Muzinga (Burundi).
Sponsored by the President of Rwanda, Paul Kagame, the winners of the event will
pocket US$ 30,000 (Tsh. 33 million); US$ 20,000 (Tsh. 22 million) for the runner
up and US$ 10,000 (Tsh. 11 million) for the third placed team.
Tanga
ends third in Ugandan table tennis meet
Joyce Macha
Tanga regional table tennis team put up an incredible performance, finishing
second runners up in the Makerere Open Championship which ended over the weekend
in Kampala.
The team’s official, Rajen Doshi, told The Express that Malick Mwasora, Seif
Seif and Zulfiker Somji fought ferociously up to the semi final stage, only to
be beaten by the host Uganda X, who eventually clinched the title.
Doshi said his team played five matches, won four and lost one in their Group B.
He said they beat Kitale of Kenya by 3 straight sets, Bag World of Kampala 3-2,
Makerere Club (Kampala) 3-1 and Sharing Club, also from Kampala 3-0.
“We lost 2-3 to Uganda X in the most thrilling encounter of the event,” said
Doshi.
Doshi said that Uganda’s Team X emerged winners while Saranyolya were runners-up
in the event which brought together 12 teams from Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda.
In the women‘s event, Nabisunsa A scooped the title after winning 3-2 over
Mbale.
Jeta
steers Ekta to victory
By Boogie Juma
Mit Jeta of Ekta steered his team to beat Union at the TCA Cricket
Tournament encounter, held over the weekend at Annadil Burhan oval in Dar es
Salaam.
The player posted 39 runs which helped beat the 123 runs in 35 overs all out.
Ekta managed to chase the score in the second inning and pass the score in the
30 overs.
In another encounter played at the same venue last Saturday, Union B thrashed
Ekta Dynamo in a thrilling match played on the opening day.
Union B who batted first, managed to post the good score of 217 runs which their
opponents failed to beat.
Ekta managed far below the score when all the players were out when the team had
converted only 30 overs.
The star of the match was Gulam Mussa of Union who knocked up 60 runs alone,
which the officials said was the highest score ever since TCA started to
organize tournaments in 2000.
In another development, Mwalimu Nyerere combined team will face Dar es Salaam
Gymkhana Club in a special cricket match, before the presentation of the
trophies to the best performers at Mwalimu Nyerere Memorial Cricket tournament,
which took place in the three venues last month.
An official from TCA, Paul Manyanda told The Express the match would be held at
Dar Gymkhana Ground.
President Mkapa to present prizes
to May Day winners
By Burton Brown
President Benjamin Mkapa will reward the winners of various sports
at this year’s May Day Cup tournaments, held May 1 in Songea, Ruvuma where the
May Day celebrations will be marked nationally.
The Secretary of the May Day tournaments, Award Safari, told The Express that
teams wishing to take part in the tournaments should start submitting their
applications on Wednesday this week.
According to Safari, teams expected to participate include defending football
champions from the Ministry of Cooperatives and Markets, and netball champions
from the Ministry of National Resources and Tourism.
Other teams include the President’s office, the Vice President’s Office and the
Prime Minister’s offices as well as the Ministries of Defence and the National
Service; Education and Culture; Communications and Transportation; and Social
Development.
Safari mentioned other teams coming from Planning and Privatisation, TAKURU,
Chief Inspection Office, National Institute of Transport, Arusha Meat,
University of Dar es Salaam and General Tyre EA Limited.
Participants will compete in football, netball, athletics, card games, bao and
shooting.
Unity Games
end successfully
By Express Reporter
After a lapse of 7 years, the youth Portfolio of the Council for
Eastern Tanzania organized the Unity Games, during the Easter Weekend from the
24th to 28th of March 2005, in the Haven of Peace, Dar es Salaam.
The aim of Unity Games was youth development. The games displayed good
sportsmanship and exceptional sporting talent, and a thought was also directed
towards the development of youth. As such, activities for youth development such
as a ‘Unity Walk for a Cause’ whereby the youth were made aware of the effects
of anti-social habits, and a stall/booth by the Education Committee for guiding
the youth on various available career opportunities, was arranged.
“Unity is Strength” had been designated as the theme for the event. The teams
that unitedly participated were Arusha, Mbeya, Iringa, Morogoro and the hosts,
Dar es Salaam. The surprise package was the team from Mombasa, who readily
accepted the invitation for the participation, and crossed the border to come
over to participate hence fostering the true spirit of Unity. The sporting
competitions that took place were Soccer, Volleyball, Throwball (for Ladies),
Table Tennis, Badminton, Darts and Pool.
The event ended with a grand Presentation Nite on the 27th of March, during
which the winners and runners up of all competitions were presented with
trophies.
TASA
election this weekend
By Boogie Juma
Tanzania Swimming Association, (TASA), will conduct its general
election this Saturday, April 9 at the National Sports Council Hall, Dar es
Salaam.
An official with the Sports Council, Mohamed Kiganja, told The Express that TASA
was given the go-ahead to hold the election after completing all necessary
prerequisites.
According to Kiganja there are ten aspirants vying for various posts in the
association including those who served in the outgoing committee.
He named Seif Mpembee as competing for the Chairmanship post, while Mariam
Mbapila and Deodatus Vincent will contest for the post of secretary general .
Kalufya Baruti and Noel Kihunsi will be rivals for the post of assistant
secretary.
Also vying for the posts are Mary Minani and David Solomon who both want to
become the next treasurer. Samson Makere will contest unopposed for assistant
treasurer.
Kiganja named the clubs eligible to vote in the general election as Navy,
Tallis, Wet & Wild, Dar Sharks, UDSM Swimming Club, Prisons, Dar Fishes, Police
Marine, Chui, JKT and representatives from schools staging swimming
competitions.
Kenya picked to host African handball meet
By Shaaban Omary
The task of hosting the African handball event has been given to the Kenyan
capital, Nairobi, where matches will officially take off on April 16.
Earlier, the continental event was planned to be held in Maputo, Mozambique, but
due to failure of the country to organise the matches forced the organizers to
shift matches to another venue.
According to the Secretary General of Tanzania Handball Association (TAHA), Sudi
Omary, Tanzania is one of the countries already confirmed to participate in the
meet.
Omary, who also holds the same post in the East and Central African Handball
Federation (ECAHF), said already two national teams in both men’s and women’s
categories have been picked.
“We are about to start training ready for the eagerly awaited event”, said
Omary. He said the names of the players would be released soon.
back to headlines
TZ hopes to
strike gold in Zone 5 boxing
By Burton Brown
Boxers currently training for the Zone Five Boxing Championship have vowed to
shine in the forthcoming competition, scheduled to take place early next week in
Nairobi, Kenya.
Leonard Machichi, Selemani Kidunda and Emilian Patrick told The Express this
week that they were high-spirited about the training, which assured them of best
performance in the championship.
Last year Tanzania failed to send a team to the Commonwealth Games, after the
boxers failed to take part in the Zonal boxing meet. “This year we want to use
properly these qualifying ties in Nairobi, so that Tanzania gets its
representatives in the coming club games and the Olympics,” said Kidunda and
Patrick.
In another development, Tanzania Amateur Boxing Association (TABA) said Tsh. 5
million was needed to enable the team to travel to Nairobi for the Eastern
Africa Zone Five Boxing Championship, set to start April 10.
The Chairman of TABA, Narcis Tarimo said the amount was needed to facilitate
transport for the seven member team and officials, to and from Nairobi.
For more than three weeks, 13 boxers have been undergoing intensive training for
the tough mission in Nairobi.