adminEllina Mhlanga: Sports Reporter
SENIOR women basketball team coach Erinos Katsaruware says the camp slated for this weekend in Harare presents them with a platform to assess their 26-member squad in preparation of the AfroBasket qualifiers next month in Mozambique.The competition is scheduled for Maputo from March 3 to 12 with Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Mozambique, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe competing.
The women AfroBasket Championships will be held in Mali, in September and Angola have already qualified. The rest of the participating countries in the qualifiers will be fighting for the remaining slot as only two countries will proceed to the main event.
Katsaruware said they will be meeting will all the 26 players for the first time.
“We had physical tests, strength tests with NUST. They helped to test where they (players) are, the endurance. “The focus now is to evaluate their skill level so that we can cut the number to 15. We want to start to introduce offensive systems and defensive systems that we are going to use.
“This is the first time we are meeting everyone. We will go for size and those without size we will look for skill because the competition against Angola and Mozambique, they are big. So we need to match-up,” said Katsaruware.
Katsaruware said their main challenge will come from Mozambique, who are regarded as one of the powerhouses in the region.
“To be realistic Mozambique are quite a challenge. They are on top of us, but we will give it our best shot. We are going there aiming to win. We will try everything in terms of preparations.
“I think the key thing is preparations. We need to watch videos on how they play so that we can counter when we go there,” said Katsaruware.
The matches will be played on a round-robin format and the top team will join Angola.
Zimbabwe are hoping to send both the men and women teams for the qualifiers.
Online Reporter