Scatterlings of Zimbabwe

At just 28 and wheelchair bound, Mharakurwa is an inspiration, not only to other disabled sportspersons, but also to able-bodied go-getters. The Buhera-born athlete has, within just four years of breaking into professional wheelchair tennis, achieved a feat that most of his able-bodied peers can only dream about, including those who have been in sport for much longer.

Turning the ultimate challenge – congenital deformity into amazing victory, the Johannesburg-based star already boasts eight singles and five doubles titles in various local and international tournaments. On the occasions that he has failed to win titles, he has been a runner-up four times, semi-finalist in as many and reached the quarterfinals a countless number of times in both the singles and doubles categories.

However, it is the way Mharakurwa has balanced his sporting excellence and a resilient pursuit of intellectual excellence that qualifies him for this column and shoots him above the rest of those athletes like a missile that has just been launched.

The tennis sensation is currently based at the University of Johannesburg, where he is studying for his second degree a Bcom in Sport Management, having obtained the scholarship after excelling in a tennis tournament there in 2008. Besides making an impact in various tournament rising to as high as 39th place in the International Tennis Federations singles rankings, Mharakurwas success trail has seen him crowned Zimbabwes Annual National Sports Awards (ANSA)s Best sportsperson with a disability three times on the trot for 2008 2009 and 2010.

So far, Mharakurwa says that 2008 will remain the best year of his career and he has strong reasons for that. It was in that year that he won three singles and three doubles titles to end the year as the Number 1 African player in the sport, his good showing in one of the tournaments earning him a sports bursary for his current studies. I can hardly believe the success that I have achieved in this sport since I broke into the professional circuit, he said this week.

It has not stopped here for me though because I still have many years left to play and a lot of other goals to achieve before I call myself very successful in the sport. Mharakurwas career began on basketball court, before he was weaned off the sport by Bulawayo-based tennis coach, Petros Ndlovu in 2007.

However, Ndlovu only put the former Founders High School (Bulawayo) student on the right path, while Mharakurwas drive and goals have seen him strive for victory. Since I began to believe in myself in the sport, my confidence has grown and a number of goals have since occupied my mind, he said. His top priority is to participate in the 2012 London Paralympics Games and ultimately reach the top 10 in the ITF rankings.

Right now, my focus is playing well and getting automatic qualification in the 2012 London Paralympics Games, which I know I will do well in once I get there, said Mharakurwa. I am determined and focused to achieve this goal. I have a lot of confidence in myself and believe that I can do it.

His biggest challenge is that for automatic qualification he should be not lower than 46th in the ITF rankings, in a field where success is measured in a year and the number of competitive games played during the qualifying period can be the difference between qualification and failure.

Those who fail to make automatic qualification are usually put on a wild card, where the ITF considers certain factors to choose participants for the remaining 18 slots. The Zimbabwean does not want to have such fate, which gave him heartbreak when he tried for Beijing in 2008 and lost the slot to South African, Sidwell Mathonsi.

Currently ranked 87th in the world and with not much sponsorship to go on international tours, where most vital games for his quest are played, the ambitious Mharakurwa has still refused to sit back a month after the qualifying period began.

I have just opened a Facebook fan page, where I am trying to mobilise support and sponsorship for more game time, he said.

Mharakurwa has also launched Goal-London 2012 Campaign an appeal for sponsorship that will enable him to reach his targeted number of games, as most tournaments he needs to participate in are played in Europe, where on average there is a game every weekend.

It is very difficult for me to get the sponsorship I need, but who said things have to come easy for anyone on this world? I will not sit back and relax just because of the difficulties and challenges. I will keep pushing till all goes well and I achieve my dream. I have never been quitter and that will not start now, he declared.

Where there is will, there will always be a way and that is what has kept me going. I never rest because I know that you have to work hard to get somewhere. Mharakurwa might still be struggling for sponsorship to achieve his ultimate goals, but his drive, ambition, hard work and achievements so far make him an inspiration for most Zimbabweans, some of them able-bodied, who want to get somewhere in life.

Instead of sitting back to relax, or going to the next traffic light to beg for a few coins so that he tries to make a living, he has chosen a path that he says will one day see him give back to those who are physically disadvantaged like him. I want not only to assure them that disability is not inability, but also to help them realise their dreams by sponsoring them in a number of events and ways, he said.