Beach volleyball set for PE

part.
Five teams will represent Zimbabwe.
In the men’s section they will field two teams, which will see Nyashadzashe Takawira partnering Brighton Ngunzu and the other team is made up of Kudakwashe Chizema and Elliot Mupariwa.
Three teams will fight for honours in the women’s section with Brenda Mundiya partnering Khanyile Dhlamini while Vuyiswa Dhlomo teams up with Felistus Chakadzeyo.
The pair of Norah Mangwanda and Thelma Zvavamwe forms another team. The teams are training at Highfield Community Hall and are expected to head for South Africa on Tuesday by road. National team coach, Robert Njerere, said the tournament was a platform for the teams to prepare for upcoming competitions.
“We usually use this tournament as part of our preparations for national teams we want to select, we have quite a number of players. According to the information we have from South Africa Volleyball Association there will be 16 teams and Zimbabwe will provide five teams,” he said.
“Namibia is bringing three teams and the rest will be South African teams.
“We are scheduled to take part in the Zone Six beach volleyball next month to be held either in Mozambique or South Africa.
“Early next year we will be playing in the Continental Cup qualifiers between February and September for 2014.
“This tournament will give us a very good platform considering that some of the teams in South Africa participated in the Olympics and they are also the reigning African champions. It will give us a lot of preparatory work,” said Njerere.
Last year Zimbabwe took part in the Open tournament and the men’s team was eliminated in the quarter-finals while the women’s team reached the semi-finals.
However, the semi-finals were not played due to a hailstorm that occurred during the event and the organisers had to cancel the tournament.
Njerere said he expects the teams to do much better this year.
“I think in terms of preparations we have done our part basically as the coaching department.
“With our preparations we are hoping we will get better results this time.
“I am hoping the teams especially the men makes it to the semi-final if not the finals and the ladies maintain their performance and make it to the finals.
“We have been concentrating on tactical awareness,” said Njerere.
The Zone Six championships will be held on October 27 and 28.