adminCollin Matiza Sports Editor
AFTER having managed to send teams to the last two editions of the Partille Cup, the Mashonaland West Province are looking at having another dance with one of the biggest handball tournaments in the world in Gothenburg, Sweden, next year.The Partille Cup is a youth team handball competition open for both boys and girls of ages 10 to 21 years. It has been held annually since 1970 and organised by a Swede handball club IK Sävehof from Partille in Gothenburg.
It is also the world’s largest annual team handball cup by number of contestants. Registration for next year’s Partille Cup opened yesterday.
Mashonaland West Province sent teams to the last two Partille Cup tournaments in Gothenburg in 2012 and this year after having been invited to take part in this event by its organisers through the Zimbabwe Handball Federation.
And Alfos Mhondiwa, the vice-chairperson of the newly-elected Mashonaland West Province Handball Board who also took part in the last two Partille Cup tournaments in Gothenburg in 2012 and in July this year, said they were already looking at sending another representative side from the same province to next year’s event in Sweden.
In fact, Mashonaland West Province sent Mashrhino, a girls Under-12 select team, to this year’s Partille Cup and they were part of a large contingent of 96 athletes and officials from Zimbabwe who took part in this event which ran from July 1-6 in Gothenburg.
The previous year, Mashonaland West Province also sent a team from Zvimba District to the same tournament and Mhondiwa said they were now looking at scoring a “hat-trick” by picking up another side for next year’s Partille Cup which will run from June 30 to July 5.
“We are looking at taking two sides to next year’s Partille Cup – a girls Under-14 team and a boys Under-15 select side – and if we are invited for the Olympic Development Programme, which is held two days before the start of this tournament in Gothenburg, we might also select a number of players who will be added to the national Under-17 team for the same event,” Mhondiwa said.
The seasoned handball coach and administrator said they were most likely to select the same players, who played as the Mashrhino Under-12 team at this year’s Partille Cup, to be part of the girls Under-14 side that they would like to take part in the same tournament next year.
“This is for continuity sake and I think this will go a long way in generating more interest in the sport among these young players who travelled to Sweden this year as Mashrhino.
“As for the boys Under-15 team, we will be having a selection tournament at Chinhoyi High School on November 2. The players or teams will be drawn from all the districts in Mashonaland West Province and we are expecting a minimum of three teams per district… We have seven districts in our province and this means we are likely to have 21 teams for this selection event,” Mhondiwa said.
Mashonaland West Province are also likely to stage another selection tournament for the boys and girls Under-17 age-group.
“In fact, we are now in the process of putting in place (an Under-17 boys and girls) team that will represent our province in all future national and international handball tournaments in the next four or five years.
“And as a new board, we’ve set up structures that will see us coming up with grassroots development programmes from schools up to district level. We will then set up community clubs and we are also looking at having a committee that will supervise all our handball programmes at grassroots level in our province.
“The cost effective measure is for us to come up with a fixture programme for our provincial league that we intend to set up in the not-too-distant future.
“For our league, we would like to see our teams playing on a home and away basis after every two weeks,” said Mhondiwa, who added that Zvimba District already have 14 handball clubs.
Parents in Zvimba District, Mhondiwa said, are so excited about this “project” and were ready to contribute to the development of handball in their area.
“The element of continuity is lacking at the moment but we need to put all the structures in place that will help us, as a board, to develop handball in Mashonaland West Province.”
Mhondiwa also said they were likely to have a training camp this weekend with the Mashrhino girls Under-13 select side which they will then take for a two-day tour of Manicaland Province to play a number of matches there next weekend.
Online Reporter