adminCollin Matiza and Shingi Mugabe
THE Zimbabwe junior handball team returned home with three gold medals and one bronze medal from the South African Handball Invitational tournament held in Johannesburg last week.
Team Zimbabwe fielded six teams for the tournament and Prospect Primary School from Waterfalls managed to scoop two gold medals for both boys and girls’ teams in the Under-14 age-group.
Harare Girls High School’s Under-16 team also did themselves and the nation proud by scooping a gold medal in their section while Bradley High School from Mashonaland Central finished third to pick up a bronze medal in the Under-16 boys category.
Amon Madzvamuse, the president of the Zimbabwe Handball Federation, was satisfied with Team Zimbabwe’s overall performance at the invitational tournament, applauding the athletes for their good showing.
“We performed very well and managed to collect a lot of medals at the invitational tournament.
“I am very happy with how the teams performed and being able to win some medals for Zimbabwe, it is just as we had expected, but next time I am sure the teams will push harder to surpass these results.
“We made our mark in the first ever invitational tournament and I am sure that they now know Zimbabwe is a force to reckon with in terms of junior handball in the Southern African region,” said Madzvamuse.
It was a new experience for the Zimbabwean team and Madzvamuse was able to draw some lessons from the trip.
“Every time we travel we learn something new and our lesson this time was that clubs are a priority in South Africa, which is a method we can also use here for the sport to grow here in Zimbabwe.
“We are going to try and emulate this in 2016 as a new goal for the year and try to introduce it in schools so we can develop the game in schools,” he added.
During the course of the tournament the ZHF selected the Under-14 and Under-16 boys teams that will represent Zimbabwe at the Hanse Cup in Germany in March next year.
“We have selected a team of boys that will travel to Germany next year in April. We took the top performers from the tournament and they will be representing Zimbabwe in the Under-14 and Under-16 age groups at the 2016 Hanse Cup,” he said.
At the 2016 Hanse Cup, the national boys Under-14 and 16 teams will be joined by the Mashrhino boys and girls sides from the same age groups who were also invited to take part in this annual youth handball tournament in Hamburg.
Mashrhino are a select team that is picked by the Mashonaland West Handball Association who at the weekend hosted the Mashrhino Cup tournament at Jameson High School in Kadoma which they used as part of their preparations for next year’s Hanse Cup.
The Mashrhino Cup was held simultaneously with a three-day international referees course which was conducted by a top Swedish handball instructor Bjorn Larsson.
And Alfos Mhondiwa, the vice-chairperson of the Mashonaland West Handball Association, said both the Mashrhino Cup and the international referees course were a huge success.
Mhondiwa said they were now expecting some of the local referees, who excelled during the three-day international course, to be invited to officiate at Partille Cup in Gothenburg, Sweden.
The Partille Cup, which is one of the world’s biggest youth handball tournaments, has a long history of supporting countries to develop their handball tradition.
The organisers of this tournament have a long and friendly co-operation with Zimbabwe and their (Partille Cup) ambassador Mhondiwa.
Mhondiwa is the founder and the strong force behind the Mashrhino Cup in Zimbabwe.
Online Reporter