Inter Women striker Tabitha Chawinga has spoken of her pride at representing the Nerazzurri, and hoped to be a source of inspiration for young African girls playing football.
Chawinga joined Inter on loan from Chinese club Wuhan Jianghan University last year, having previously represented Inter’s former sister club Jiangsu Suning, and has made a positive impact since arriving in Italy.
In an interview published in today’s newspaper edition of La Gazzetta dello Sport, the Malawi international told her story of arriving at Inter, and how she had found her way in professional football.
“I’m from Malawi and I’m the third child in a family of five. I started playing thanks to my cousin, in the village we always played barefoot with a ball made of plastic,” the 26-year-old revealed.
“To prevent me from getting bored, he started letting me play even with his friends and I haven’t stopped since.
“I want to be a role model for African girls who are interested in football. Like Inter, I want to achieve important goals, because my life revolves around football.”
Chawinga scored twice in a 4-1 thrashing of rivals AC Milan yesterday, and was delighted to have achieved a such a historic feat for the club.
“I’m very happy to have made history, in a way. I want to help the team win and these are three important points.
“The derby is a different match from the others and there was a lot of expectation from our fans. I’m happy because we have shown that we are a great team and we have given great satisfaction to those who follow us.
“I’ve always wanted to play in Europe in the top leagues, so I was thrilled with the offer because I knew I would be playing in Serie A.
“The type of play in Europe requires both skill and strategy and I knew being here would perfect my my ability and would make me better,” she added.
Inter Women currently sit in fourth place in the Serie A Femminile table, but trail leaders Roma by seven points after playing one game more.
