mbulelo smpofu
Brandon Moyo, Brandonmalvin9@gmail.com
CHITUNGWIZA-based Tigers Pool Club clinched the 2024 National Champions League tournament, which ended at Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo yesterday morning.
Tigers are now recognised as the best pool club in the country, dethroning Nkulumane Pool Club, who entered the end-of-year event as defending champions, having won the previous edition in Chinhoyi.
Tigers defeated the home side, Queens Pool Academy, in the final to claim the title. They won the final 8-5, rounding off a memorable weekend in the City of Kings and Queens.
In their opening match of the tournament on Saturday, Tigers secured a hard-fought 4-3 victory over Legends Pool Club in the round of 16, before defeating Soul City 5-2 in a race-to-five last-eight match. In the semi-finals, the eventual champions registered a 6-5 win over Leisure Centre Pool Club to set up a final clash against Queens Pool Academy.
On their way to the final, Queens Pool Academy beat Mega One 5-0 before edging Ellusion 4-3 in the last-eight stage. In the semi-finals, the hosts defeated Lions 6-3.
With Tigers securing top spot, followed by Queens Academy, third place went to Lions, who beat Leisure Centre 8-4 in the third-place play-off match.
Tigers received a prize of US$3 000, while Queens pocketed US$2 000 for being runners-up. Third-placed Lions took home US$1 000, while Leisure Centre earned US$500.
Teams finishing in positions five to eight (Ellusion, MSU and Gweru Snipers) each received US$100.
A representative from Tigers Pool Club, Munashe Silingwani, expressed their delight at being crowned champions, confirming their status as the country’s best pool team.
“As Tigers, we are very happy to have won this tournament. This is the third time we have won it. We won it back-to-back before Nkulumane Pool Club took it in the previous event. But I am glad we managed to win it again and we have shown the country that this title is ours. We will continue winning it. We are grateful to everyone who has supported us, like Isaac ‘Zeke’ Tichareva,” said Silingwani.
Despite falling short of winning the title on home soil, Queens Pool Academy’s Wisdom “VP” Munenge said they were proud of their second-place finish, which was an improvement on the previous campaign.
“This time around we performed very well and I think we are getting there as a team. If you look at our previous performance, we were eliminated in the first round, but this time, we managed to reach the final, so it’s very good progress and improvement. Soon, we will win this title,” he said.
Zimbabwe Pool Association (Zipa) president, Nickson Mashayahanya was pleased with the event’s outcome, despite a few delays that saw it conclude yesterday instead of Sunday.
“The event went well. It was successful, but unfortunately we had some delays. However, after overcoming those delays, the games continued successfully. We had more teams participating in this tournament compared to the previous one, where we had 32 teams.
“We could do better (in terms of quality of play), but I am happy with the improvement. We have teams from smaller towns scooping prizes and that shows that the game is developing in other centres as well,” said Mashayahanya.
A total of 48 teams participated in the tournament, which was held at the end of the season, unlike before when it used to be held at the beginning of every new campaign. — @brandon_malvin
