Shipahu goes back to his roots

Brave Warriors striker Tangeni Shipahu yesterday donated clothing and equipment to the value of N$20 000 to his former club Tigers, for both its soccer and netball teams.

The donation includes Kappa set-out gear, consisting of 30 shorts and golf shirts, a Nike netball kit for Tigers’ netball team, and 10 Adidas match balls for both sport codes.

Shipahu represented Tigers from 2008 to 2010, when he finished as the top goal scorer and Tigers’ player of the season before joining South African Premiership side Amazulu. After a season in South Africa, Shipahu joined his current club, Osotspa in the Thai Premier League.

Dino Ballotti, an executive committee member of Tigers said they were honoured and grateful to receive the sponsorship from one of their former players.

“We cannot think of a former player who has ploughed back financially at a time of need, as Tangeni has done today,” he said.

“We as a sports club are extremely grateful for this show of kindness and in return promise to wear the gear with pride as we maintain our unbeaten run and title challenge to bring back the glory days of years gone by,” he added.

Another executive committee member of Tigers, Lukas Nanyemba also expressed his gratitude to Shipahu.

“On behalf of the Tigers family I’d like to express our gratitude to Tangeni Shipahu for this gesture. He looked at where he came from, he looked at his progress, and he decided to say thank you. This is the first time that a Tigers player has given back to the club and we really need this material so we are very grateful to Tangeni,” he said.

Shipahu said his sponsorship was a token of appreciation for what Tigers had done for him in his career.

“I used to play for Tigers and I know they don’t have a lot of money but we still managed to get everything. This sponsorship is just a token of appreciation because it is through them that I joined Amazulu and then went to Thailand where I joined Osotspa. So I just wanted to show my appreciation and make a good gesture and help them with their upcoming kids,” he said.

Shipahu leaves for Thailand today ahead of the new season and said he hoped they would do better than last season.

“Last season did not go too well because I missed a few games through injury or due to national duty for the Brave Warriors. We finished sixth on the log last season so it wasn’t really a good position while we also lost our coach, but hopefully we will be able to challenge for the league title this coming season,” he said.

Shipahu said he was impressed by Tigers’ form so far this season and wished them the best of luck.

“I’ve heard a lot about Tigers this season and they are doing really well. It’s the first time that they are on top of the log in a long time, so hopefully this season they will do better and win the league. I will just wish them the best of luck for Friday’s match against Black Africa, they must just keep their heads up and continue where they left off,” he said.