Behind Queens retain trophy

Trophy handball tournament at Chitungwiza Aquatic Complex.
The champions beat Big Elephants 9-8 in a tightly contested match that saw their opponents dominating most of the first half.
Big Elephants went into half-time leading 5-4 but Behind Queens came back into the second half a rejuvenated side to win the game.
Earlier on they had overpowered Hardshots 12-5 in the semi-finals while Big Elephants beat Black Panthers 9-4.
Winnie Jacob and Evelyn Kufandirori inspired their team to victory as they scored three points apiece while Belinda Chigodora came in with two points and Jerina Mudavanhu weighed in with a point.
For Big Elephants it was their captain Portia Gutsa and Dorcas Marondera who contributed most of the points as they scored three points apiece while Alice Muzanenhamo contributed two points.
Behind Queens’ coach, Shingirai Kasero, was impressed with their victory and commended his team for a job well done.
“The competition was tough from the start. We played Big Elephants in the preliminary matches and we beat them with one point and today we won with the same margin again.
“I feel proud of my team, we are the defending champions and we have been winning the trophy for three consecutive years,” said Kasero.
In the third and fourth place play-off match, Hardshots beat Black Panthers 12-11.
In the men’s semi-finals Hardshots beat Big Elephants 14-12 while Black Rhinos defeated Bright Burning Stars from Glendale 14-7 to reach the finals.
The finals were rescheduled for late last night after being delayed by a dispute on who had qualified for the semi-finals.
Most of the teams were tied on points and had the same goal difference and had the same number of goals.
The dispute delayed the start of the semi-finals.
The dispute saw Tough Tacklers withdrawing from the competition while Black Panthers from Bulawayo, who were tied on points with Black Rhinos, were advised that the qualifying team was going to be decided by the toss of a coin.
Rhinos won the toss.
However, this did not go down well with some of the players as they called for a rematch.