PREPARATIONS for the inaugural Perpetua Siyachitema Mixed Tournament are progressing well, with 10 teams confirming participation.
The tournament, to honour one of the greatest netball players to ever emerge in the country, will take place at White City Stadium in Bulawayo on Saturday.
Participating teams include Screeming Divas, Sparrows, Bulawayo Queens, Maphisa Queens, Freestars, ZRP team and Old Nic Mine
The tournament honours Siyachitema who was part of the national team for about 15 years. It will also celebrate other iconic netball figures who have played a pivotal role in the development of the sport.
The former Gems captain led the team to their maiden 2019 World Cup appearance in Liverpool, UK, where they had a remarkable run and eventually finished on eighth position.
Currently, she is basking in the glory of scooping two consecutive coach of the year awards with Glow Petroleum Queens. The club is also the only unbeaten team in the Rainbow Amateur Netball League after 23 matches.
The 40-year-old was part of a panel of analysts during the 2023 Netball World Cup in Cape Town, South Africa, earlier this year.
The Bulawayo tournament organiser Tashan Mtengwa said preparations are on course for a memorable event where winning teams are set to walk away with medals and trophies.
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“The preparations for this tournament are progressing well. We have made progress in securing the venue in terms of the courts that we will be using. About 10 teams have so far confirmed their availability and we didn’t use any criteria to choose the participating teams — we only looked at social teams which were interested in supporting this initiative,” said Mtengwa.
“We decided to come up with this kind of tournament just to show our appreciation to the people who have paved the way in the development of the sport of netball in the country. Perpetua is an iconic figure in the netball field and has paved the way for so many players.It is our hope that this initiative will help show our appreciation not only to her but also all other netball legends that befit this gesture.”
“Going forward, we want to continue and constantly recognise these legends who have played for so many years and served the country well. Most of the time those people are not really recognised, especially in the form of a tournament- so that’s what we want to do.”
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