National senior football team, the Warriors, have emerged as a shock nominee for the prestigious Team of the Year award, threatening to make the 2013 Annual National Sports Awards (Ansa) set for December 11 a farce.
The Sports and Recreation Commission announced the awards nominees at a press conference yesterday. If the Warriors really deserve nomination, then it demonstrates the paucity of achievements in Zimbabwean sport.
The team finished bottom of their group in the running for a Fifa 2014 World Cup place, completing their worst campaign for the global showcase ever.
The Warriors came out of the four-nation pool with just two draws against Mozambique, while losing all the other four matches including two home defeats.
It might have been their success in qualifying for the African Nations Championships (Chan) which won the team nomination for the top prize.
But Chan is not even recognised by Fifa and considering the investment into the team, the Warriors do not deserve plaudits for mediocre peformances.
The also failed to win the regional Cosafa tournament after losing out to Zambia.
Warriors coach Ian Gorowa was also nominated in the will Coach of the Year category where he fights it out with Rachel Jane Davis of rowing and Wayne Davidson of triathlon.
Gorowa's only achievement in his short spell is qualifying for Africa's second tier tournament, Chan.
The other surprise was the exclusion of national cricket team coach Andy Waller from the Coach of the Year nominations even though his team, which won a Test match against Pakistan, is in the running for Team of the Year award.
The Zimbabwe Under-19 beach volleyball team completes nominations in that category.
Golfer Brendan de Jonge, reigning Sportsperson of the Year, did not receive any nominations this year.
Instead, the top accolade could be won by Cara Black (tennis), Micheen Thorncroft (rowing) and Rachel Goromonzi (hockey) who have been nominated in the Sportswoman of the Year category while Charles Manyuchi (boxing), Takanyi Garanganga (tennis) and Samson Muripo have been nominated for Sportsman of the Year.
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