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Ellina Mhlanga
Senior Sports Reporter
ZIMBABWE Under-21 men’s coach, Fidelis Majuba, says the postponement of Junior Africa Cup comes as a relief for the side and will give them more time to fine- tune their preparations.
The tournament was scheduled for next month in Accra, Ghana, but the Africa Hockey Federation moved it to August.
They will also announce new hosts for the event in due course.
Zimbabwe are fielding both men and women teams in the continental competition, which is also acting as a qualifier, for the Junior Hockey World Cup.
Majuba said it was going to be difficult to compete, at the event under the prevailing circumstances.
“We are very relieved and excited at the same time because this has given us a second opportunity to take part in the tournament.
“The original date of March was no longer possible due to the pandemic.
“We are still waiting for the permission from SRC (Sports and Recreation Commission) to resume training.
“But, essentially the rescheduling of the tournament gives us more time to prepare, and we will be drawing up a new calendar, leading to the final tournament,” said Majuba.
Both squads have been working towards competing at the event since last year.
Although physical meetings were suspended in January, in compliance with the Level four lockdown measures, they continued with online programmes.
“Practice has been restricted to individual fitness training, which is monitored through a mobile app called strava.
“All players are connected through their cellphones, and every time they run, the information is received and stored in our data base.
“It is not ideal but it does, at least, give us an indication of how much work each player is doing.
“We are hopeful that we will resume training in the near future,” said Majuba.
The technical team are working with 24 players, after dropping some last December.
Majuba said they will be making some adjustments, to the training programme.
“A new training schedule will be distributed, hopefully this will include a few local tournaments, to enable the selectors to keep in touch with the players’ progress,” said Majuba.
The participating countries at the Junior Africa Cup will be vying for the remaining slot for the World Cup in each category.
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