Temwa on fire
Women’s football export Temwa Chawinga’s star continues to rise in the Chinese Women’s Super League where she has sprang to the summit of the scorers’ chart with four goals from two games.
This comes after the 22-year-old scored a second successive brace that inspired Wuhan Jiangda to climb to the summit of the log table with six points from two straight wins, the latest being a 4-0 demolition of Shandong Ticai on Tuesday.
She scored her first brace on Saturday when her deadly combination with her elder sister Tabitha got the defending champions to a winning start with another 4-0 thrashing of Sichuan.
Temwa is in her second season in the Chinese top-flight where, in her first season last year, she inspired Wuhan to their first league title in their 19-year history and finished as the league’s runner-up top scorer with nine goals, nine behind the eventual golden boot winner Zambian Barbra Banda.
Currently, Temwa is a goal ahead of second leading scorer Yan Jinping of Shanghai Shengli, who had a hat-trick in her team’s 7-1 thrashing of Henan Jianye.
The Malawi women’s national football team star is the only player that has so far scored in two consecutive matches.
Tabitha, who has just joined Wuhan from Jiangsu to team up with her younger sister, is among 15 players that have registered a goal each in the league following her strike against Sichuan on Saturday.
In an interview yesterday, Temwa said her target is to win the golden boot and help Wuhan reclaim the league title.
“It really feels great to score in both games we have played so far. I am also happy that my team has 100 percent winning record so far. I thank God for His blessings,” she said.
Temwa also attributed her awesome form to her reunion with Tabitha, who she said has been encouraging her to work harder both on and off the pitch.
“The coming in of my sister is a big morale booster to me. Apart from being a teammate, she plays a role of a parent that always wishes her daughter well. My other teammates and Wuhan technical panel have also been of big help,” she said.
Tabitha, who announced her presence in China by winning the Golden Boot with 17 goals in 2018 before repeating the feat in 2019 and helped Suning complete a domestic treble, yesterday said she is happy for her younger sister’s achievements in the Chinese league so far.
“I am happy for her; she has proved that she is an excellent striker and I thank God for this,” she said.
When the sisters played together at DD Sunshine and Kvarnsvedens IK in Malawi and Sweden, respectively, Tabitha was the destroyer-in-chief while Temwa created the goals. But now they appear have switched roles.
Scorchers’ coach McNelbert Kazuwa said Temwa’s excellent goal-scoring form is a big morale booster ahead of the Scorchers’ imminent fixture in the 2022 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations qualifers, where they are expected to face neighbours Zambia.
