adminFrom Fatima Bulla in LUSAKA, Zambia
ZIMBABWE’S hockey teams that participated at the Under-17 Youth Olympic Games qualifiers in Lusaka, Zambia, believe they can build on the exposure gained at the tournament for future competitions.
This follows failure by the girls team to grab the bronze medal on the final day of the tournament on Saturday when they lost 6-2 to Namibia at the Olympic Youth Development Centre.
The boys team had already exited the competition on Thursday when they lost 7-4 to Kenya. The qualifiers had teams from Kenya, Zambia, South Africa as well as Namibia.
Captain of the Zimbabwe boys team, Stefano Bellini-Martin, said they had performed well despite failing to get one of the two slots to go to the Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing, China, later in August.
“I think right from the beginning we did have high hopes ,we believed we could go all the way. We did go through hard training, we were committed unfortunately it did not come out in the end. Yes, we had our ups and downs but that is how it goes in the game of hockey,” Martins said.
Hockey Association of Zimbabwe’s Ginny Ross said finances played a huge part on their lack of exposure hence the eventual result.
“If we have finances we can have exposure but we cannot get exposure if there are no finances. A huge thank you goes to the parents because they have helped us to get where we are now with the kids. I think the results do not indicate the commitment the players have shown and it is such a fast game and a new concept to hockey. So what is happening is that if the goals have been scored there could be 10 goals but the game will be really close.
“All our games have been middle matches and very close although not necessarily been reflective on the scores. So it is very difficult to pinpoint and say we need improving here,” Ross said.
Ross added that the boys team was much in shape compared to the other teams at the tournament.
“It is just that once one had already gone ahead we needed to come back and we did not actually come back when we needed to. I think the teams did very well. In preparation for the Under-21 Africa Cup of Nations we will be looking at taking the boys to the next tournament. But not just leaving them now, we are looking at school holidays getting teams together having school training for a weekend at a time. And having to come back again because they are still at school so they are still committed to their school first,” Ross added.
Tournament director and former Zimbabwe hockey player, Sue Simmonds, expressed satisfaction with the talent displayed at the games but highlighted that finances remained a challenge to most of Africa’s hockey teams.
Online Reporter