The Sunday News
Simba Jemwa, Sports Correspondent
THREE local referees have been appointed to officiate in the Preliminaries of the Federation of International Basketball Association (FIBA) Africa Champions Cup Women 2021, Zone 5 which will be held in Dar es Salam, Tanzania.
The preliminaries will be held from November 18 to 23.
The three, Brilliance Ncube from Bulawayo, Vincensa Dyanda from Kwekwe and the veteran Joyce Annie Muchenu from Harare have all been selected for the prestigious event.
While the other two are fairly inexperienced, Muchenu has been all over the world officiating at Fiba events and has been recognized as one of the best basketball match officials on the continent.
Muchenu was the first female Fiba referee in Zimbabwe and the first female Fiba Zone Six referee and for a long time was always the only female referee at all local and international tournaments.
In previous interviews, Muchenu said from 2007 she never met any female Fiba referees until September 2011 when she eventually met four female Fiba referees.
Muchenu became a Fiba international referee in September 2008 and was nominated to officiate at the FIBA Women’s Champions Cup in Nairobi, Kenya the same year.
She has since officiated at big competitions on the African continent including junior and senior tournaments but has also officiated at two All Africa Games (2011 and 2015), three FIBA U17 World Cups, two FIBA U19 World Cups, pre-Olympic Qualifiers and the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia.
Muchenu is now joined on the Fiba international referees panel by Ncube and Dyanda both of whom are you women with a future in the game. Ncube is a product of the Bulawayo Veterans association’s efforts through Angels Basketball Club to develop and empower the girl child with its president, Durral Adams funding her training.
Basketball Union of Zimbabwe President (Technical Commission), Sikhumbuzo Ndlovu welcomed the trio’s appointment calling it “recognition of the hard work and effort” that has been put in by the trio.
“It is good to see people who having been putting in the time and effort being rewarded. This is also good for the development of basketball in the country especially among the females, the girl child and it’s a great encouragement to see these three come through and being recognized by Fiba (Africa). Joyce is a top class Fiba referee and has a lot of experience officiating at international events which should make it easier for someone like Brilliance who is going for only her first international assignment,” he said. @RealSimbaJemwa
