Solomon Musiwacho’s Decades-Long Journey to Elevate Mutare’s Table Tennis Scene

AS 2023 comes to a close, it is evident that the Mutare table tennis community still has a lot of room for improvement in consistently attaining a high-quality standard.

Enriching academies and talent initiatives in sports creates talented juniors who mature into elite age groups.

Solomon Musiwacho, originally from Mutare and now based in the UK, is a passionate table tennis player.

He has been involved in the sport since the 90s and has developed a close relationship with it.

Musiwacho is committed to giving back to the community, and his investments have already positively impacted Mutare. His efforts have raised hopes for developing table tennis in the area.

“In 2019, I gave back to the community working with the Zimbabwe Table Tennis Union (ZTTU). The partnership bore little effect on the sport, and that’s when l decided to work with Tendai, my longtime friend who also played table tennis back then. We started by bringing in equipment, which was pivotal since there was a big gap in Dangamvura. Musiwacho revealed EntersportNews.

“Last year, 2022, we came, and there was a single table at Beithall in Dangamvura, and there needed to be equipment to talk of. We decided to use available resources to upgrade the state of table tennis in Dangamvura. Luckily, it worked because young talents dominate age groups from 18 years and below. Standards have grown.”

Mutare has experienced a recent surge in development, as evidenced by the current tournaments where players from the Eastern Highlands have been dominating over their counterparts from Zimbabwe.

The ZimClosed Table Tennis tournament, held at Dangamvura High School from the 9th to the 10th of December, was made possible by the efforts of Musiwacho and other supporters.

“If you see this tournament, I supplied almost everything from balls, partitions, and most tables to nets. I don’t intend to stop because there is much work to do. The intention is also to support Sakubva because there is a need for support in that area. Our efforts have been fruitful, and we hope for the best,” Musiwacho added.

The problem of funding remains a significant challenge in Mutare. As a result, young players have been unable to attend regional and international tournaments, causing a gap in their rankings.

Parents who can afford it solely fund their children’s table tennis ambitions, while those with limited financial resources are left wondering how to support their children’s dreams.

When asked about sponsorship and partnerships, the Zimbabwe Table Tennis Union’s (ZTTU) secretary general stated that the organization has recently received positive responses from the corporate world.

“We are having good responses from the corporate world. We have CBZ, who have been with us for all the tournaments that we have had so far. We also have Nedbank, which has a strong team, and we appreciate that because we see a good picture going forward into 2024, ” Duri added.