admin
Don Makanyanga, Sports Reporter
Zimbabwe Table Tennis team junior team is set to leave for Botswana today for their first ever African Junior Championship tournament to be hosted by Botswana.
The tournament is set to run from July 11-15. A total of 52 African will participate at the African Junior Championships.
As part of sending the delegation to the Championships the Zimbabwe Table Tennis Union held a fundraising dinner on Thursday.
“We had a fundraiser dinner on Thursday for our Under 15 and U19s who are set to participate in the African Table Tennis Championships which are a pathway to the World Youth Championships.
“The fundraising dinner we held was to supplement the funds we had as union and I am happy with the response we got from our partners,” said the ZTTU president Noah Ferenando.
Zimbabwe will be making their debut appearance at the African Junior Championships and the ZTTU president said that they were not looking for a podium finish, but a good performance.
“This is the first time that we are qualifying for this prestigious tournament and we hope that our athletes who are drawn from across the country will do well at this tournament.
We are not under pressure to get any medals, but instead we are looking to build for a strong team for next year’s World Championships,” said Ferenando.
He revealed that the selection of the team was done on merit, with a two months training camp being provided for the team.
“We selected the best players from our schools league and the best from our national rankings.
“We had training camps for the team in different parts of the country hence we believe they will give us the edge at the tournament,” he said.
Meanwhile the ZTTU will today welcome the returning team which toured South Africa for CUCSA games.
“I would also want to gladly notify you of the successes of our University teams that played in the recently concluded CUCSA Games,” said Ferenando.
“Our Boys had a Gold Medal and Girls Bronze in Teams and Silver in Doubles,” said Ferenando.
Online Reporter