Africa-Press – Tanzania. MOHAMED Dewji has stepped down as Simba’s board chairman, a post he held for four years. With Mo at the helm of the board, Simba have claimed the Premier League for the fourth seasons in a row.
During the same period, Simba managed to reach the CAF Champions League quarter-stage and was ranked among the top 10 clubs in Africa.
Speaking on Wednesday Dewji said that he has taken the decision because he has a busy schedule which makes him travel a lot in and outside the country.
“I am always traveling abroad which makes me out of the club activities. We had a meeting with the board members and agreed to take the decision. I am not leaving the club and I will continue to be the team’s investor as well as a member. This is my life club; I will never leave until my last day in the World. I will continue to feature in all club activities as a member and investor,” said Dewji.
He said the board of directors meeting agreed that Salim “Try Again” Abdallah will be the new board chairman. Abdallah was vice-chairman of the club’s board directors.
Meanwhile, Biashara United goalkeeper, James Ssetuba said he always pray to God before the match to have a great performance.
The Ugandan goalie made headlines on Tuesday when he denied a 91st spot kick taken by Simba skipper John Bocco to enable his side claim one point on their first match of the season.
Immediately after the thrilling game at a fully packed Karume Stadium in Mara, the fans’ could not help but splashing the goalkeeper with money as a gesture to acknowledge his brilliance throughout the tight encounter.
“It was not a real penalty because my teammate played the ball but the referee judged that it was a spot kick. I always pray to God before the game to assist me to have a great match and I am thankful to him after saving that penalty,” he said.
He also thanked those who gave him money rewards after the match while disclosing that they had almost one week to practice on how to deal with aerial balls saying that was why he was able to play most of the high balls.
The outcome saw Simba launching their title defense mission on a slow pace despite imploring all the necessary ways to collect maximum three points from the difficult territory. On his part, Simba Assistant Coach Selemani Matola said it was simply a bad day at the office as they did everything possible to emerge winners on the day.
“We had a couple of scoring chances including the penalty in the closing minutes of the match but we failed to convert it. Our focus now is on the next match,” Matola said.
His counterpart for Biashara United Patrick Odhiambo hailed his charges for excuting well the game plan while insisting that they wanted to win the match.
“Our target this season is to try to win all our home games but today, we have produced a draw as such, we need to keep our target alive by winning the next fixture,” said the Kenyan trainer.
The next stop for Simba will be at Jamhuri Stadium in Dodoma on October 1st where they will collide against Dodoma Jiji who won 1-0 versus Ruvu Shooting at the same venue on Tuesday.
For Biashara United, they will stay put at their base Karume Stadium welcoming Ruvu Shooting on October 1st with each team searching to claim their first wins of the season.
