Zimbabwe has a great sporting tradition and has produced many world recognised sports names and personalities. Cricket is one of the most popular sports in Zimbabwe, although rugby union and field hockey also have a following, traditionally among the white minority. Football (soccer) is also played widely. Although Zimbabwe has produced many athletes that have competed for Zimbabwe there are also a large number of athletes who learned their sport in Zimbabwe but have chosen to represent other countries.
Contents |
The Zimbabwe national football team, nicknamed The Warriors, have qualified for the Africa Cup of Nations twice (in 2004 and 2006) but have never passed the group stages.
The Zimbabwe Premier Soccer League (known as CBZ Premier Soccer League) is the top professional division in Zimbabwe. There are 16 teams in the division with Monomotapa United F.C. from Harare leading the table as champions in 2008. There are two main cup competitions played in Zimbabwe, both are knockout tournaments, the first is the CBZ FA Cup (or Zimbabwe Cup) won by CAPS United in 2008. The CBZ FA Cup was first created as the Southern Rhodesia Castle Cup in 1962. The other major cup is the Zimbabwean Independence Trophy created as a clubs competition in 1983. Current holders of the trophy are Shooting Stars F.C..
Zimbabwe has eight main stadiums where football is played, the largest being the multi-use National Sports Stadium.
Notable Zimbabwean footballers are Benjamin "Benjani" Mwaruwari who plays for Blackburn Rovers F.C. as a Striker and is the current Zimbabwe national team captain, having taken over the captaincy from Peter Ndlovu. Ndlovu is also a notable Zimbabwean footballer having spent twelve seasons playing for top English football clubs. Another well known Zimbabwean footballer is Bruce Grobbelaar, a goalkeeper, who played for the national team, but most notably for Liverpool F.C. from 1980 to 1994.
Rugby union is a significant sport in Zimbabwe, dating back to the late nineteenth century. Zimbabwe has been at the Rugby World Cup twice. The country has also produced a number of significant rugby players, although there has been a tendency for many of them to play in South Africa.
Zimbabwe has won eight Olympic medals, one (team medal) in field hockey at the (boycotted) 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, and the other seven by swimmer Kirsty Coventry—three at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens and four at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. Coventry won two Gold Medals, four Silver and one Bronze.
Zimbabwe has also done well in the Commonwealth Games and All-Africa Games in swimming, with Coventry winning 11 gold medals in the different competitions.[1][2][3][4]
Zimbabwe has also competed at Wimbledon and the Davis Cup in tennis, most notably with the Black Family, which comprises Wayne Black, Byron Black and Cara Black. Zimbabwe's tennis players have also competed in most of the Olympic Games since Independence in 1980.
Polocrosse has been played in Zimbabwe (at the time Rhodesia) since 1948.[5] 1997 saw Zimbabwe become the World Champions when they went unbeaten against Australia, New Zealand and South Africa in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa. Zimbabwe came fourth out of eight countries at the inaugural World Cup in 2003. Zimbabwe also won the Polocrosse Africa Cup in 2004. There are currently an estimated 156 playing members from 10 clubs. At the sports playing peak in 1996 there were 420 players.[5] The decrease in Polocrosse players is due primarily to the Zimbabwean diaspora and on-going economic and political crisis in the country.[6] Polocrosse is often played by people from a rural background and due to the land reforms in Zimbabwe many of these people have left the country. Polocrosse-international.org [7]
|
|||||||||||