adminCollin Matiza Sports Editor
TWO top Swedish instructors – Bjorn Larsson and Markus Christian Sandberg – have agreed to come to Zimbabwe to conduct an international handball referees course at Jameson High School in Kadoma from December 3-5. The Mashonaland West Handball Association recently asked the Swedish Handball Federation to help them in finding two reputable instructors from their country who will conduct this three-day international referees course for Zimbabwean officials.
And Alfos Mhondiwa, the vice-chairperson of the Mashonaland West Handball Association, told The Herald at the weekend that the Swedish Handball Federation have indicated that two of their country’s best instructors – Larsson and Sandberg – will come down to Zimbabwe to run this high profile course.
“In fact, when they (the Swedish Handball Federation) advertised this course on their website, there was a huge response from most of their country’s top instructors. More than 30 instructors came forward and volunteered to come to Zimbabwe to conduct this international referees course.
“But at the end of the day, the Swedish Handball Federation picked Bjorn Larsson and Markus Christian Sandberg who, I’m glad to say, will be coming down to Zimbabwe to run our three-day international referees course at Jameson High School in Kadoma.
“The two instructors are set to fly in from Sweden on December 1, have a rest on the second day before travelling to Kadoma for this course,” Mhondiwa said.
And as an incentive to the would-be course participants, the outstanding officials at this international referees course will be invited to officiate at the Partille Cup in the next editions of this big youth international handball tournament in Gothenburg, Sweden.
“As I indicated before, our international partners from Sweden have said that they would like to invite a number Zimbabwean handball referees to officiate at the Partille Cup and the participants who would have done well at our international referees course in December will get this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity of being invited to handle some of the matches at this tournament in Gothenburg in the future.
“So we are still inviting schools, clubs and other interested parties to send participants for this important international referees training course,” Mhondiwa said.
Participants at the December 3-5 international referees course will each be required to pay $100 which will cover their participation fee, food, accommodation, certification and course materials.
“Already, we have more than 40 participants from Mashonaland West Province who have registered for this course and we are hoping to get more people from other provinces. All in all, we should have about 100 participants,” Mhondiwa said.
The international referees course will be held simultaneously with the 2015 Mashrhino Cup, a junior handball tournament that is designed for players under the age of 18.
Mhondiwa said they will stage the Mashrhino Cup as part of their preparations for next year’s Hanse Cup in Hamburg, Germany.
The Hanse Cup is one of Europe’s biggest youth handball tournaments and it is held annually in Hamburg during the weekend of the Easter Holidays and it is designed for the Under-15 to 17 age-groups with most of the participating clubs coming from Denmark, the Netherlands, France and the hosts Germany.
In April this year, the organisers of the Hanse Cup broke with tradition when they invited the Mashrhino boys and girls select team from Zimbabwe’s Mashonaland West Province to take part in this tournament.
This saw the Mashrhino select side writing their own piece of history as they became the first team from outside Europe and from Africa to take part in the Hanse Cup.
And Mhondiwa said they are now looking at having another dance with the Hanse Cup and they have already selected a boys and a girls Under-17 team that will take part in this tournament in Hamburg in March next year where they are likely to be joined by Harare’s Girls High School and a national Under-17 team that will be picked by the Zimbabwe Handball Federation.
“The two teams which we have selected for next year’s Hanse Cup will take part in the Mashrhino Cup at Jameson High School in Kadoma from December 3-5 where we are also inviting other interested schools and clubs to come and take part in this junior handball tournament which is open for the 18 years and under, 15 years and under 12 years and under age-groups,” Mhodiwa said.
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