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NATIONAL handball coach Alan Mandeya has defended Zimbabwe’s participation in the Partille Cup, saying taking part in the annual youth tournament in Gothenburg, Sweden, goes a long way in creating more interest in the sport among the junior players in this country.
He also said Zimbabwe’s participation in the Partille Cup, which is designed for youth teams, was initiated by Daniel Mutandwa before the Zimbabwe Handball Federation adopted it as part of their junior development programme.
Mandeya was reacting to questions which were recently raised by some local handball followers who were asking why the ZHF were “constantly picking schools and junior clubs and not national teams” for the Partille Cup, which is designed for players from the ages of 10 to 21 years.
“The Partille Cup project was initiated by Mutandwa (who is now the national development officer) but you should understand that Mutandwa was operating this project from the ZHF and in this regard it became the ZHF’s baby.
“The ZHF was going to be blamed for doing nothing in this noble project. The Partille Cup is for junior national teams and junior club teams not schools as you put it.
“The teams (that) will be participating in the cup will be either junior clubs or junior national teams. There are no senior national teams participating in Partille Cup as it was suggested by Charlton Dzikamai Chikuruwo in one of his posts,” Mandeya wrote on the Zimbabwe Handball’s Facebook wall yesterday.
He also dismissed reports that the Amon Madzvamuse-led ZHF executive committee was not properly constituted, saying it was given the mandate to run the affairs of handball in Zimbabwe by the Sports Commission after the federation’s former president Agrippah Sora left the hot seat last year.
“I would like to respond to Mr. Chapuka when he said the ZHF executive members are not properly constituted and some of its members choose whatever positions they feel like in the federation. The current executive was given the mandate (to run the affairs of handball in Zimbabwe) by the Sports Commission.
“ . . . The men and women (in the ZHF) were not hand-picked as suggested by some of you but they were appointed by the provincial chairpersons who are the councillors of the ZHF and they were endorsed by the Sports Commission.
“The ZHF has also appointed a Coaches Commission which is currently being headed by Alan Mandeya. This week they will be appointing a Referees Commission as required by the ZHF constitution to make our handball work. ZHF is legitimate and has the mandate to run handball in Zimbabwe,” Mandeya said.
The seasoned coach also defended the ZHF for having a bias towards their junior development programme rather than promoting the sport at senior club level in this country.
“Why is the ZHF putting too much concentration on junior teams? Handball at continental level only has programmes for the junior teams and there are only qualifiers for junior national teams.
“Next year in January there will be the handball’s Africa Nations Cup tournament for senior players. The qualification was based on the countries which were ranked number one to four from the previous edition.”
Mandeya said Zimbabwe are currently ranked 33rd in Africa.
“Given the current scenario, Africa is doing less on the senior national teams thereby making it difficult for the upcoming countries to concentrate on senior national teams.
Online Reporter