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Ellina Mhlanga Sports Reporter
THE Mighty Warriors will begin their preparations for the All-Africa Games and Olympic Games qualifiers later this month when they take part in an invitational tournament to be hosted by Botswana. The four-team tournament will kick off on January 30 and end on February 1 in Gaborone with four countries participating including Zimbabwe and the hosts. The other two countries are yet to be confirmed.
The event is being organised by the Botswana Football Association, and Zifa have confirmed their willingness to send the Mighty Warriors who will kick-start their campaign in the All-Africa Games qualifiers against Ghana in March.
They will start from the second round stage after they got a bye in the opening round and the match is set for the weekend of March 20-22 at home. The return leg will be played in Ghana on the weekend of April 10-12.
The Olympic Games qualifiers are also expected to start in April.
The Mighty Warriors last played a competitive match last year in June when they were eliminated from the African Women’s Championships qualifiers by Zambia.
Now coach Rosemary Mugadza and her technical crew have a tough assignment to rebuild their team if they are entertaining any hopes of making it for the continental Games scheduled for Congo Brazzaville.
The Mighty Warriors hoped to start their preparations last year in December with the Unity Day Challenge Cup, which was cancelled due to logistical problems. So the invitational tournament in Botswana will present them with a platform to begin preparing for their upcoming assignments.
In a statement released by Zifa yesterday, the football mother body confirmed that they will be sending the team to Botswana which they said was an opportunity to assess their players ahead of the qualifiers.
“The Mighty Warriors have the All-Africa Games and the Olympic Games assignments coming soon hence they will use this tournament to gauge their progress,” said Zifa communications manager Xolisani Gwesela said.
Gwesela said details about the teams camping programme will be announced today and they are also waiting for communication from Botswana on the other participating countries.
“For now we have been told Zimbabwe and Botswana will compete and the other two we will only know them after they (Botswana) have finished their selection because they have to write to other regional countries and see who responds first,” said Gwesela.
The Mighty Warriors qualified for the previous All-Africa Games held in Maputo, Mozambique, in 2011 and will be looking forward to repeating that feat this year.
However, in Maputo the Zimbabwe senior women national team found the going tough as they failed to progress beyond the group stages, losing to South Africa and Ghana before they settled for a draw against Tanzania. While they played Ghana at the Maputo Games, the West Africans this time stand in the way of their bid for a place at the Games in Congo in September.
The Mighty Warriors are also under immense pressure to atone for their failure to make it to the Nations Cup, staged in Namibia, last October.
Online Reporter