adminFOLLOWING their failure to host the International Hockey Federation World Hockey League Series, the Hockey Association of Zimbabwe failed to send a team for the tournament proper which was staged in Kenya last week.
HAZ president Humprey Chigwedere confirmed the latest development saying the national teams could not make the trip to the East African country due to lack of funds.
“HAZ could not send any teams because of financial constraints,” said Chigwedere.
This is huge setback to the sport as it means that Zimbabwe would have forfeited their chances of qualifying for the 2015 World League Championships which will be held in India and Argentina.
Following the aborted trip, a disappointed Chigwedere added:
“Both the ladies and men’s teams have been affected. We ideally wanted to send both teams for these tournaments.”
The tournament was initially set to be held in Zimbabwe, however, the country’s hockey stadia such as Magamba in Harare failed to meet the FIH standards prompting the African Hockey Federation to move the games to Nairobi.
Zimbabwe also failed to take part in Nanjing games which were held in China. The teams that participated in the three-day event that ended last Sunday were Egypt, Ghana, Tanzania and the hosts Kenya.
derick.khumalo