Pano
finishes first in Nas Tanga Rally
By Burton Brown
Pano Calavria and his co-driver, Terry Calavria recorded his first
victory since 1999 after winning the NAS Tanga Rally held over the weekend.
Driving a Subaru Imprezza, Pano shrugged off stiff opposition from his STADO
team mates Saleh Balhabou, Shanto Nahdi and Omar Bakhressa to end 4 minutes
clear of his opponents, finishing the 350 km rally in 1 hour, 39 minutes and 14
seconds.
“The rally was good, challenging and tricky, but thanks to my sponsors, I had
everything to enable me beat the challenge,” said Pano.
Pano’s victory came after more than five years without success after last
winning the Oryx 500 Rally in 1999.
Morogoro-based driving duo, Saleh Balahabou and Maiam Fazal came second in their
Land Rover V8, clocking 1 hour, 43 minutes and 23 seconds.
Sameer Nahdi Shanto in his Subaru Impreza bagged 50 points after ending third
overall in 1 hour, 48 minutes and 1 second. Omar Bakhressa/Akhtar Nayani took
number four position in 1 hour 50 minutes and 53 seconds.
Saidi Baghoza and Awadh Bafadhil from Muheza recorded the best position for
Tanga when they took fifth position in 1 hour 51 minutes and 14 seconds, ahead
of Kelvin Taylor/Isaac Taylor who finished sixth overall.
24 cars started the rally at Popatlal ground on Saturday but only 14 managed to
reach the finishing line.
Other drivers who managed to finish the rally were Khaleed Kassam and Shayir
Khan of Arusha, Anuar Pandya/Sanju Pandya (Kenya) and Dharam Pandya/Fayaz
Chandoo from Dar es Salaam.
The event was the third national rally championship this year.
Union
Basketball League starts Saturday
By Shaaban Omar
this Saturday TCC ground in Dar es Salaam will be hosting the eagerly awaited
Union Basketball League.
The organisers of the league said that preparations are in final stages and
teams from Zanzibar are on their way to the city.
The acting Secretary General of the Tanzania Basketball Federation (TBF), Ahmed
Simba named the teams lined up for the battle as Mainlanders, Jeshi Stars, Don
Bosco Queens and JKT Mbweni, all from Dar es Salaam.
Other Dar es Salaam teams which have confirmed their participation are the Army
Basketball Club (ABC), JKT and former East and Central African champions Vijana,
popularly known as City Bulls.
Zanzibari teams, which are set for the league, include Stone Town, Rangers,
Usolo, Tonardo, JKU and Lakers.
Teams, which had pulled out of the event at the eleventh hour, are Magereza of
Dar es Salaam, Police Tanga, Chakechake, Pemba Rangers and Bandari from
Zanzibar.
Simba, who is also a sports officer with the National Sports Council (NSC), said
the event would be thrilling and competitive despite some teams failing to
participate.
Meanwhile, Lavodrama Anicet an official from the Federation of International
Basketball Associations (FIBA) arrives in Dar es Salaam tomorrow. He will pay a
visit to the matches played on Saturday.
Simba
retain title hopes
By Express Reporter
This year’s premier league once again became the topic of the day after
archrivals Simba and Yanga met over the weekend at Jamhuri Stadium in Morogoro.
Title holders Simba secured three points after a 2-1 victory, reducing the gap
between the two Dar es Salaam teams to five points. Simba now have 11 points
while Yanga have 16 points, from five wins and one draw.
As happened in last year’s encounter, Yanga were the first to score in the 35th
minute before Simba equalized five minutes later.
In the 63rd minute, Athuman Machupa silenced Yanga when he scored the winner for
Simba, to record the third consecutive win for the club.
Simba had a shaky start to the league and were forced to a 1-1 draw with AFC of
Arusha, followed by another draw against Twiga in Tanga. In the team’s third
match, they missed securing three points after losing to Moro United in Arusha.
Their first victory came against Mji Mpwapwa, winning 2-1. They also won in
Songea against Majimaji, 4-0.
“I had lost all hopes in my players, now I am sure the ousted leadership was
behind the disastrous performance by our team,” said Hafidh Ally, a Simba fan.
Netball league
continues at Railway courts
By Burton Brown
Ilala Municipal Netball team thrashed Magereza (Prisons) 49-33 in
the ongoing national netball league on Tuesday at Railway Gerezani court in Dar
es Salaam.
The winners were leading 21-17 before the break with Mary Christian showing her
speed in firing goals after every minute. The player bagged seven goals in the
first quarter.
Magereza could have won the match if the team had players to assist Halima Ally,
who notched 23 goals out of the 33 her team scored.
In another match held at the same venue, Veta (JKT) beat Police Morogoro, 48-31.
In other matches this week, Mapinduzi Dodoma beat JKT Makutupora also from
Dodoma, 42-29. Police Dar es Salaam outclassed Police Kilimanjaro by 33-27 at
Railway Gerezani, Dar es Salaam.
Teams from Tanzania armed forces units, Police, JKT, Magereza (Prisons) and TPDF
have continued to dominate the league with JKT Mbweni being the defending
champions of the league title.
Cash to table tennis winners
By Boogie Juma
Winners of the 2005 edition of the National Table Tennis
Championship scheduled for June 9 to 11 at Kisutu Primary School courts in Dar
es Salaam will be awarded with cash prizes.
This year, teams from Dar es Salaam, Tanga, Morogoro, Tabora, Mwanza, Malindi
and Pemba will participate.
Ayn Shariff, Chairman of Tanzania Table Tennis Association (TTTA) told The
Express the championship would feature four disciplines: men, ladies and junior
disciplines for boys and girls.
There will be singles, doubles and mixed doubles in both the senior and junior
disciplines.
In another development, TTTA will hold its Annual General Meeting, June 11
before the election takes place June 22.
Nair stars in victory over win
TCA
By Boogie Juma
Mahesh Nair of Aga Khan had a successful day when his team beat
Tanzania Cricket Development in a close fight in the TCA League held over the
weekend at Annadil Burhani Oval in Dar es Salaam.
In a successful partnership with Rizwan Kakani, Nair scored 51 runs out of the
185 his team scored. His successor, Kakani managed 35 runs.
Aga Khan batted first and their opponents failed to chase 185 runs, ending with
178 runs all out at 48 overs.
TCA key players Hamisi Abdallah, Benson Mwita and Issa Kikasi managed to score
44, 37 and 34 runs respectively but that was not enough to stop Aga Khan from
claiming a hard earned victory.
In B division league, the match between Anadil Burhan B and Union Veteran was
postponed due to a downpour.
The league resumes this weekend when Annadil Burhan face Ekta at Annadil Burhan
while in B division, Morogoro TCA are pitted against Annadil Burhan B at the
same venue. Both matches will take place on Saturday.
CHANETA
hunts for sponsors
By Joyce Macha
Tanzania’s netball body (CHANETA) is desperately looking for Tsh. 32
million. The money is needed for netball youth teams to participate in the
international competition in Australia.
The first of its kind in the Commonwealth countries, the event, Southern Sky
International Netball Tournament, is scheduled from July to August in Sydney,
Australia.
Secretary General of CHANETA, Damian Chonya told The Express this week that the
failure to get the said amount would halt the participation of Tanzania’s Under
16 and 19 netball teams in the event.
“We are facing acute financial problems, which jeopardize our teams’ eagerly
awaited trip. We urge companies and individuals to sponsor us so that our teams
can travel to Australia,” he said.
Players who were selected for the team from outside Dar es Salaam have had to
return to their respective regions to continue training, while those from Dar es
Salaam were still on off camp training at the Railway Gerezani club grounds in
the city.
However Chonya said they still hope the two will make it to Australia and they
are expecting to do the second selection of players in early May for both teams.
Each team will have 20 players.
Tanzania absent at Zone Five
boxing
By Burton Brown
Tanzania failed to take part in the 2005 edition of the Zone Five
Boxing Championship in Nairobi, Kenya last week.
The team did not appear in Nairobi for the tournament. The officials of Tanzania
Amateur Boxing Association (TABA) remained silent over the issue.
The boxers in the team told The Express that the failure to compete in the Zonal
Championship put to undesired end all their efforts and training. Most of them
had been preparing for four months.
Only three countries, Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda took part in this year’s
tournament. Tanzania’s absence means that the country will be unable to send
representatives to various international events outside the region.
The majority of the Tanzanian boxers had been selected from various tournaments
organized by Dar es Salaam Amateur Boxing Association(DABA), which earned Dar es
Salaam the top title in the Intercity Boxing Championship held in Dar es Salaam
featuring boxers from Kampala, Nairobi and Kigali.
However, the only remaining tournament awaiting the boxers at present is the
Intercity Championship to be held in the Rwandan capital, Kigali later next
month.
Simba, Villa in Kagame Cup opener
By Joyce Macha
The Kagame Cecafa Club Cup kicks off this weekend in Mwanza, with
Simba playing their opening match against Uganda’s Sports Club Villa.
Simba, a strong contender for the East and Central African Club Championship,
represent Tanzania together with Mtibwa Sugar of Morogoro.
The tournament will stage two matches daily in Mwanza since the Sheikh Amri
Abeid Stadium in Arusha will not be used.
Starting on April 23, the cup lasts until May 7. Only 10 teams have confirmed
their participation, following a last minute withdrawal of Total FC from
Djibouti.
Group A include Simba (Tanzania), Sports Club Villa (Uganda), Elma (Somalia) and
Atletico Olympic (Burundi).
Group B teams include defending champions APR (Rwanda), Mtibwa Sugar (Tanzania),
Awassa (Ethiopia) and KMKM (Zanzibar).
Group C is remained with Ulinzi of Kenya and Rayon SC of Rwanda.
back to headlines
Dar boxers
invited to Zambia
By Burton Brown
Zambia Amateur Boxing Federation (ZABF) has invited boxers from Dar
es Salaam to participate in the Zambian International Boxing Championship to be
held in Kitwe from May 26 to 29.
Dar es Salaam Amateur Boxing Association (DABA) Chairman, Shaaban Mintanga said
his association had confirmed to send boxers and that the boxers were in the
final preparation.
Other teams to take part will come from Namibia, Botswana and the host Zambia.
According to Mintanga, DAB has picked the Dar es Salaam region boxing champions,
JKT Mlalakua to represent the region in the event.
“Since we are having another assignment in the East African Intercity Boxing
Championship, we requested JKT Mlalakua to represent us and they have agreed to
go,” he said.