Zimbabwe’s Highlanders Football Club and the Premier Soccer League have come to an agreement on how to solve a scheduling conflict between a major prize tournament and a match between the national junior team and Mozambique this weekend.
Highlanders and soccer officials agreed to let five Highlanders players scheduled to play for the National Under-23 Young Warriors team against Mozambique Saturday at Rufaro Stadium in Harare, then travel by air to rejoin rejoin their team in the Nestle Charity Shield tournament playoff the very next day in Bulawayo
Highlanders needed a waiver of the rules on player rest between games. Highlanders officials initially asked the PSL to postpone the Charity Shield final match.
The Charity Shield Cup hung in the balance Monday with Highlanders crying foul over the drafting of five of their players for the U-23 game, arguing that the team would be seriously handicapped in the Charity Shield final on Sunday against Mwana Africa.
The winning team will claim a Z$25 million prize (US$5,000 at the parallel market rate of exchange) while the losing side will go away Z$15 million (US$3,000) richer.
The Highlanders squad must score four goals to win the cup having sustained a 3-0 loss to Bindura-based Mwana Africa in the first leg of the tournament last week.
Meanwhile, athletes from around the country will kick off the 2007 athletics season on Sunday at Bulawayo’s National University Of Science and Technology.
Reporter Marvellous Mhlanga-Nyahuye of VOA’s Studio 7 for Zimbabwe spoke with 20-year-old sprinter Nobluhle Ncube, one of the few females in the field, asking her what drew her into competitive track and field events.