The Dar es Salaam zone emerged the overall winners at the just ended Inter-Secondary Schools Games, UMISSETA at the Kibaha Education Centre in Coast Region.
Dar es Salaam collected a total of four gold medals in the Games that reached its climax yesterday, winning in volleyball, netball, football, and handball.
In volleyball boys and girls lifted the trophies in which girls thumped North Western 3-0 straight sets, while boys led by Mika Elisanga, Elifuraha Joseph and John Joseph proved to be too strong for Eastern zone after winning by 3-0 straight sets.
Dar es Salaam also showed their superiority in netball after emerging 56-29 victory over Lake Zone in a one sided encounter. Kulwa Abdallah and Jesca Jackson were unstoppable and led Dar es Salaam to clear victory. The third place went to dethroned champions Eastern zone.
In football the Dar es Salaam girls were also unstoppable after they beat Eastern zone 3-0 to lift the trophy, while in basketball Zanzibar boys lifted the trophy following a 65-56 victory over Eastern zone in the closely contested final encounter.
North Eastern was the queens in girls’ category after inflicting a 37-34 defeat on Eastern zone. On Friday Dar es Salaam put up a stunning performance to emerge handball champions both in handball boys and girls categories.
In the boys’ final matches that took place at the Kibaha Secondary School grounds in Coast Region, Dar es Salaam beat Zanzibar 26-22. The victors were in unstoppable form as they took off vigorously from the word go and pinned their opponents into their own domain for the most part of play.
Led by prolific Ally Mussa and Ally Jumbe, Dar es Salaam were a no match in the second half as they continued to record point after point. It was the same story for the girls’ category as Dar es Salaam were dominant from the start to the finish as they emerged 14-11 winners against Highlands Zone. The third place went to North Western Zone who won in play off.
At least 12 zones are competing in the Games that attracted over 1624 students. The 35th edition of the Games were officially closed by the Minister for Information, Youth, Culture and Sports, Fenella Mukangara, who challenges students to excel both academically and in sports.
By CLECENCE KUNAMBI, Tanzania Daily News