Tabitha wins golden boot, cup
Women football export Tabitha Chawinga on Sunday clinched the golden boot in the Chinese Fifa Women’s National Championship and steered her team Jiangsu Suning to ultimate glory following a 3-0 thrashing of Dalian FC in the final.
The 23-year-old targeted to score 15 goals in seven games in the competition and her dream came true despite not scoring in the final.
The glory comes barely two days after the reigning Chinese Women’s Footballer of the Year hit a hat-trick and provided two assists in Suning’s 7-1 demolition of Changchun in the semi-final.
“I thank God for the success. Without Him I am nothing,” she said.
The Malawi women’s national football team captain is also chasing another top scorer’s accolade in the Chinese Football Association Cup, where she has notched four goals in two games so far.
Meanwhile, she has set 25 goals as her target in the Chinese Women’s Football League, which kicks off this July after she fully recovered from a knee injury she sustained last season.
In the 2018 season, the free-scoring striker won the golden boot in her debut season in the Chinese top-flight league with 17 goals, seven ahead of second-placed top-scorer and former African player of the year Nigerian striker Asisat Oshoala.
National team technical advisor and former national team captain Maggie Chombo-Sadiki yesterday said Chawinga’s success does not come as a surprise because she is a perennial achiever, who can fit in any league in the world.
