Temwa wins Player of the Tourney, golden boot awards

Scorchers stand-in captain Temwa  Chawinga underlined her credentials as the best player at the 2023 HollywoodBet Cosafa Championship in South Africa yesterday when she scooped both the Player of the Tournament and Golden Boot awards.

The China-based prolific forward won the golden boot with nine goals, four more than her runner-up Thubelihle  Shamase  of South Africa while Zambia’s Sara Jere was third with four goals.

In an interview yesterday, the 26-year-old star said she was thrilled to win a double.

She said: “Its an amazing feeling really. To me, the most important thing was to help my team to win the cup. That is what matters most, individual accolades are always secondary to me.

“The team comes first and I am happy to have fought for my national team all the way. I will live to cherish this experience.

“I achieved all this because of the good team spirit that was there. We played for each other and fought for our motherland. It was all about team work and it will not be fair if I take all the credit.”

Her France-based sister Tabitha, who missed the tournament due to club commitments at Paris Saint Germain, said she was proud of her sister’s exploits.

She said: “She deserved the awards. She was the best player at the tournament and the nine goals she scored, attest to that.

“I had all the belief that she would scoop both awards and I even said it to her when we spoke to wish her  the best for the final.”

Temwa was the centerpiece of Malawi’s remarkable run at the regional showpiece, scoring a hat-trick in the 3-4 victory over the hosts Banyana Banyana before netting four goals in the 8-0 demolition of e-Swatini.

She was then rested for the Madagascar game which the Scorchers won  3-1.

Temwa was back in the semi-final against Mozambique and netted a brace as the Scorchers came from a goal down to win 2-1.

She also won the Player-of-the-Match Award twice.