adminSports Correspondent
THE Africa Hockey Federation (AfHF) is yet to announce the dates for the Africa Hockey Cup of Nations tournament to be held this year.
The continental showcase, which will also double up as the Rio 2016 Olympics qualifier, was initially scheduled for October 17-25 in Ismailia, Egypt, has been moved to South Africa to a yet to be announced date for logistical reasons.
Zimbabwe confirmed their participation in the rescheduled tournament earlier this month as the AfHF had set August 11 as the deadline date for registration.
Zimbabwe had not entered the initial tournament set for Egypt citing financial challenges as they felt that travel and accommodation costs were out of their reach.
Hockey Association of Zimbabwe (HAZ) vice-president Humphrey Chigwedere said they were still waiting for the AfHF to announce the new dates and venues so that they can plan their preparations and budget for the tourney.
“We’ve not heard anything yet from the AfHF concerning the new dates. They only told us that our championships would now be held in Johannesburg, South Africa, but we’re yet to be notified about the venues,” said Chigwedere.
“We would have appreciated it if they had finalised the programme much earlier so that we have enough time to organise our finances and enough time to start organising our squad,” he said.
In November 2014, Zimbabwe successfully hosted the Africa Cup of Club Championships at Kumalo Hockey Stadium in Bulawayo where 19 teams from Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi and Zambia participated.
Zimbabwe was represented by Eradicators and Scorpions from Harare province, Hippo Valley (Masvingo) and Bulawayo Athletic Club.
The tournament was won by Orange from Kenya.
Online Reporter