The Sunday Mail
Brighton Zhawi
MATHEW LEE WILLIAMS was determined to follow in mum and Golden Girls’ Patricia McKillop’s footsteps as the Zimbabwe men’s hockey team took part in the 2016 Olympic Games qualifiers in South Africa last week.
Lee played the game of his life, scoring 10 goals.
However, his efforts were not enough to fire his country to the Olympic Games, with Zimbabwe finishing sixth out of the nine countries that battled for the sole ticket to Rio de Janeiro.
Patricia was the top scorer at the 1980 Olympics in Moscow where the Golden Girls won the country’s first ever gold medal and her son badly wanted to be at the Games next year.
“I am very disappointed to miss this opportunity to represent Zimbabwe at the Olympics,” said Williams.
“It is definitely a dream I would like to fulfil, following in my mother’s footsteps. Two gold medals in the family would be great.”
Williams, whose father Collins also played for the national team in the 1980s takes solace from his brilliant show in South Africa.
“It’s always nice to score a goal at an international level, so I was really happy with the 10. However, I also realise that although I was the one who scored 10 goals, it wouldn’t have been possible without the collective effort of the whole team.
“I always feel there is room for improvement so one or two more would have been great.”
Williams, who is brother to cricket national team player Sean, has enjoyed a good season and was the joint fifth highest scorer at the qualifiers, scoring six less than tournament’s top scorer.
“It was a very good season winning both the HAZ Cup and the Interprovincial tourney. I felt positive going into the (Olympic qualifiers) tournament but you are never sure of how things turn out when playing against quality teams in Africa,” he said. Sean, who is in Bangladesh with the Chevrons and is also said to be a very good hockey player, hailed his talented brother.
“He is very talented and I am very proud of him and his achievements. lt would have been an honour to play in that team alongside him but I chose cricket,” he said.
