Online Reporter
Sports Reporter
NATIONAL Heyball Association of Zimbabwe (NHAZ) president Nomore Muzvidziwa has revealed that the adoption of heyball in the country’s pool fraternity is meant to compliment and not to replace the black ball that has infiltrated the sporting fraternity countrywide with gale power.
The piercing familiarity of heyball into the cue space has sent shivers that business persons are likely to be shunted into loss as there would be no takers largely of their billiard tables, among other facets and accessories.
But not so, as heyball, a familiar sport on the international scene, especially in China has graced Zimbabwe as a biblical good “Samaritan” to spice up the blackball in the cue sport industry.
Muzvidziwa said: “Our approach to heyball adoption is not to set it as a competitor to blackball currently dominating the cue sport in Zimbabwe. That is why heyball was created as an affiliate of the Zimbabwe Pool Association (Zipa). This is to ensure synchronisation of activities and build a symbiotic relationship since the catchment is the same. As National Heyball Association of Zimbabwe, our aim is to use the same existing structures in each province to administer the heyball. We want our players to have a taste of both worlds.”
Muzvidziwa said that therefore what is called pool is not under threat from heyball as the two are expected to co-exist and complement each other.
NHAZ has no immediate plans to introduce leagues for herbal but their aim is to run individual tournaments, which will be played in each province feeding into the national tournaments.
“We want to give a chance to every player in all our provinces to be included hence the provincial approach. Players will earn points both at provincial and national level, making it easy to select players for international duty whenever required,” said Muzvidziwa.
The NHAZ president made a passionate appeal to the corporate world to adequately resource the fairly novel sport to the country.
“In terms of sponsorship for tables, we are appealing to individuals and the corporate world to assist and partner with us. The more tables we get, the more the game will be played,” he said.
Pressed further to comment on timelines of the full scale introduction of the sport in all provinces, Muzvidziwa said: “Our main programmes are as per the ZIPA calendar published in January 2025. Of course, we will add some (activities) as we monitor progress and uptake by provinces. Our intention is to kick-start with referees and technical staff trainings, most probably mid-March then we allow these trained officials to cascade to their respective provinces, leading to our first national ranking tournament scheduled for the May 31. By then, the sport would have reached all corners of Zimbabwe.”
Heyball is an exciting and rewarding sport with a lot of international travel.
Muzvidziwa said that this is where they require partners and sponsors to bail out their players and officials to meet travel and accommodation costs.
“As it stands, we were invited to participate at the 2025 JOY Heyball Masters Grand Finals to be held in Chengdu, China from April 26 to May 17. Only one player Malvern Mukonza will be fully catered for by the organisers and the rest have to foot their costs,” said Muzvidziwa.
If Mukonza gives a good account of himself, prevails against all the odds and hits a bull’s eye at the tournament, he would fatten his pocket with whooping US$700 000 rich pickings.
NHAZ wants their players to get exposure as they would be competing with the best in the world. Last year, they had more than 10 players and officials taking part in that same tournament. Heyball is a new phenomenon in Zimbabwe and it started after China invited one player and the ZIPA president to participate in the Heyball
Annual tournament in 2022 and 2023.
Thereafter, they had a national team participating in the same tourney early 2024.
The association was subsequently mandated to start training players in Heyball.
At the 2023 Annual General Meeting (AGM), which was held in 2024 in Chivhu, Zipa councillors resonated in resolving to start a Heyball league and that is when the NHAZ was mooted.
NHAZ was then mandated to introduce a heyball league under the auspices of ZIPA’S technical director Wellington Chikasha.
So far, HAZ has done one tournament and a lot of workshops are lined up to orient players in the heyball sports genre.
