Magiya happy with handball preps

July 1 to 6, is the world’s largest handball tournament for young people targeting both boys and girls.

Zimbabwe will this year be represented by Morgan High, Girls High, Howard High, Houghton Park Primary, Chishawasha Primary and Mash Rhino, a select team from Mashonaland West.

Magiya said the teams have been doing well despite some of the schools facing financial challenges.
“I think the teams have been working very hard and on the ticketing side so far I would say 75 percent have completed.

“The president is working on clearance by the Sports Commission and the ministry (Ministry of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture).
“Two teams — Howard and Girls High —have completed paying for their airfares and they will be leaving on June 27.

“They are participating in an Olympic development programme starting from June 28 to July 1. We just selected a boys and girls team.
“We have had Morgan High struggling but we still have to find out how far they have gone ,” said Magiya.

Magiya said they will be fielding primary schools for the second year after Prospect Primary were part of the teams that represented the country last year at the same competition.
“This is the second year we are having primary schools. It’s all about giving opportunities to the young players.

“When we took part in last year’s competition we negotiated with the organisers that we would want to bring primary schools and they welcomed the idea.
“We are cascading down to make sure that we will even send Under-10s in the future. There has been a yawning gap between NASH (National Association of Secondary Schools) and Naph (National Association of Primary Schools Heads) and we are now trying to narrow down that gap,” said Magiya.

Zimbabwe has been represented by schools from various provinces over the past years as the national federation seeks to improve the sport starting from the junior levels.