Handball tourney postponed

Sinikiwe Marodza Sports Reporter

THE International Handball Federation’s Southern Africa’s Zone VI Games, which were scheduled to be held in Zimbabwe in April, have been postponed to June.

Farai Gwisai, the Zimbabwe Handball Federation’s technical director Farai Gwisai, said have been pushed to June and July due to the Covid-19 pandemic related issues.

“We have received communication from the African handball federation informing us about postponing the games.

“The federation is monitoring the Covid-19 situation in all parts of the continent and they are hoping in June the situation would be much more stabilised,’’ Gwisai said. Preparation for the Zone VI Games have already begun, with the local handball federation hosting a three-day national team selection event at Girls High School in Harare.

“We are not delaying our preparations because the Games have been postponed.

“We have invited best players from across the country and we are hoping to get the best team out of these players.

“Team selection started on Wednesday and the players will be going back to their respective bases on Sunday,’’ Gwisai said.

He added that it is a great advantage for Zimbabwe to have the event being pushed to a later date as it gives them enough time to prepare as the host nation.

“We as the hosts of the tournament, we are actually happy to come to know that the dates have been pushed further as it gives us enough time to prepare.

“We will be having a LOC meeting this Saturday to draft our road map.

“We are also considering the fact that all sports codes were affected by the Covid-19 pandemic and players did not have enough time to train and get physically fit, so we want to try and make sure that the selected national team gets enough time to prepare,’’ Gwisai said.

The Zone VI Games will also be considered as World Youth Championship qualifiers for all the teams in Southern Africa.

“Unlike football teams and other desciplines, in handball it is these Games that determines who goes to the World Youth Championships and who doesn’t and for that reason we are very strict and serious with our preparation process,” Gwisai added.