{"id":308,"date":"2012-01-15T15:45:35","date_gmt":"2012-01-15T15:45:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gormahia.net\/latest\/?p=308"},"modified":"2012-01-15T15:45:35","modified_gmt":"2012-01-15T15:45:35","slug":"mapunda-relishes-starting-position","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gormahia.net\/latest\/news\/mapunda-relishes-starting-position\/","title":{"rendered":"Mapunda relishes starting position"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/gormahia.net\/images\/mapunda-hewani.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Courtesy of michezoafrika.com<\/p>\n<p>Goal stopper and Tanzanian international Ivo Mapunda has expressed his joy after being handed a jersey No 16 that officially makes him a Gor Mahia player. Mapunda was unveiled among other players that included Rama Salim, Yusuf Juma and George Midenyo during a press conference on Friday.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking to Michezoafrika.com after the ceremony, the highly rated custodian who was first choice for relegated side Bandari FC was exuded confidence that the move to  Gor Mahia is a sign of greater things to come in his football career. He is however realistic with his expectations at Gor Mahia.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI may have always earned a regular start in Bandari but that is different now, I have to work hard to earn that golden opportunity. We have top quality keeper and each will be fighting for that jersey between the posts,\u201d Said Mapunda.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cK\u2019Ogalo is a popular club in the Africa and has world class players. I am privileged to have been signed here. I will really have to work hard to  give back to the club and the great fans,\u201d  He said.<\/p>\n<p>At Gor Mahia, Mapunda will battle it out for the jersey with Captain Jerim Onyango and Wycliffe Kasaya.<\/p>\n<p>While in Gor Mahia colors, the father of two believes he will have more opportunities that could enable him move to even big clubs in Europe one day.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Kenya premier league has grown big. The coverage by Supersport is giving the players great exposure. Gor Mahia always makes headlines and that is another advantage here. Playing in the CAF Confederations cup is another opportunity to showcase our talents to the outside world,\u201d Said Mapunda.<\/p>\n<p>Mapunda was also grateful to Bandari for giving him an opportunity to play in the Kenyan Premier League.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBandari wil also remain close to my heart for the chance they offered me. They may have gone down to a lower league but I wish them the best. It was great serving them\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Tanzanian international has nine caps for his country.<\/p>\n<div class=\"fb-background-color\">\n\t\t\t  <div \n\t\t\t  \tclass = \"fb-comments\" \n\t\t\t  \tdata-href = \"https:\/\/gormahia.net\/latest\/news\/mapunda-relishes-starting-position\/\"\n\t\t\t  \tdata-numposts = \"10\"\n\t\t\t  \tdata-lazy = \"true\"\n\t\t\t\tdata-colorscheme = \"light\"\n\t\t\t\tdata-order-by = \"social\"\n\t\t\t\tdata-mobile=true>\n\t\t\t  <\/div><\/div>\n\t\t  <style>\n\t\t    .fb-background-color {\n\t\t\t\tbackground:  !important;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t.fb_iframe_widget_fluid_desktop iframe {\n\t\t\t    width: 100% !important;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t  <\/style>\n\t\t  ","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Courtesy of michezoafrika.com Goal stopper and Tanzanian international Ivo Mapunda has expressed his joy after being handed a jersey No<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_layout":"default_layout","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-308","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gormahia.net\/latest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gormahia.net\/latest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gormahia.net\/latest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gormahia.net\/latest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gormahia.net\/latest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=308"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gormahia.net\/latest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gormahia.net\/latest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=308"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gormahia.net\/latest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=308"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gormahia.net\/latest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=308"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}