daniel chigunwe
Ellina Mhlanga–Senior Sports Reporter
AFTER suffering a heavy defeat at the hands of the Netherlands at the ongoing FIH Hockey Women’s Junior World Cup on Monday, Zimbabwe Under-21 coach Tendayi Maredza has said lack of competition and exposure is a limiting factor to the team’s effort at the global stage.
Zimbabwe were beaten 18-0 in their last Pool A match against top ranked Netherlands. It was their biggest defeat at the tournament.
In their previous meeting with the Netherlands at the Junior World Cup in 2016, Zimbabwe lost 13-0.
Following their loss on Monday, Zimbabwe finished third in Pool A with three points.
The Netherlands topped the Pool with nine points, followed by the United States with six.
Canada, who lost all their matches, finished bottom of Pool A.
“Definitely lack of competition locally is affecting and also not having exposure of playing these teams on a regular basis, like going to Europe, and play. Obviously, financial problems are a big issue in Zimbabwe for sport.
“So we need more exposure. The more we play against these teams, the more we have vibrant local league that will go a long way because at the moment we are just depending on natural talent. And we are still performing well but it’s not good enough,” said Maredza.
Despite the heavy defeat, Maredza believes the junior team has made some progress considering how Zimbabwe have previously performed at this level.
In 2005 and in 2016, they finished bottom, ranked 16th at the tournament after losing all their matches.
Their victory against Canada last Friday was the first ever win at the Women’s Junior World Cup.
And after finishing third in Pool A, Zimbabwe are now going to play in the classification phase of the tournament. They play for ninth to 12th place after missing the quarter-finals.
They will get to know their opponents tomorrow and Maredza said they lost to a good team.
“Yesterday’s (Monday) game was a tough one. Obviously, we started well in the first quarter but the Netherlands came back hard on us. They just were top of their game and we fell short.
“So at the end of day, the girls did fight well, which was good for us and we take the lessons and move forward.
“We play for ninth to 12th place. If we win that game, we now play for ninth and 10th position. So we are waiting to see which teams we will play, and then after that, if we win that game, we play for ninth and 10th position.
“The team is still fine, still in high hopes because we now fight for top 10 position, from nine to 12. Hopefully we can fight for top 10, so the girls are still excited, they are looking forward to this journey.
“Obviously, yesterday was one of those games where things didn’t go our way. But we are learning a lot in terms of what we need to develop in terms of our structure, the technology also because there is a lot of technology from the other teams which we also need to invest in.
“We are learning a lot in terms of what we need to work on in terms of grassroots programme, our basics,” said Maredza.
The Netherlands and the United States advance to the quarter-finals.
Online Reporter