The Sunday Mail
Freeman Razemba in Luanda, Angola
THE Zimbabwe Republic Police team are leading here after scooping 17 gold medals during the ongoing Southern Africa Regional Chiefs Cooperation Organisations (SARPCCO) games.
Team Zimbabwe also have 19 silver and 17 bronze medals, ahead of Namibia’s 14 gold, 12 silver and six bronze medals. Hosts Angola have five gold, five silver and nine bronze medals.
Mozambique has two gold, two silver, three bronze medals while South Africa has two gold, two silver, one bronze medals. Zambia has one gold, four silver, four bronze medals while Eswatini has one gold, three silver, two bronze medals and Botswana has one gold, one silver and one bronze medals.
On Friday, the ZRP netball team also added a gold medal to the team when they won 51-21 against South Africa.
Led by Zimbabwe Gems captain Pauline Jani, the netball side were unbeaten in all the five games they played.
On Thursday, they won a crucial battle against Zambia, beating them 55-49.
Zambia’s netball team won the silver medal while Botswana settled for the bronze medal.
In earlier games, the Zimbabwe had hammered Angola 65-11, overcame Botswana 32-29 and saw off Namibia with a 58-28 win.
The team’s coach Talent Maseka said, “We played very well. The games were very tough as the teams are improving day by day. We played with composure to win the games.
“In future we should come to this tournament without underrating any team. Botswana played very well in this tournament, Namibia is also improving and during the next tournament, competition will be tougher.”
Jani attributed her team’s success to teamwork.
As the curtain comes down on the 10th edition of the SARPCCO games, the Zimbabweans are only left with a few games to fulfil.
Team Zimbabwe are the defending champions and have consecutively won the overall trophy on four occasions. Apart from the competition, the games provide a platform for police officers from the region to interact and share ideas on curbing transnational criminal activities.
At this year’s event, the ZRP officers are battling it out with their counterparts from South Africa, Eswatini, Mozambique, Namibia, Zambia and Angola.
The next games will be held in 2022.
