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Ellina Mhlanga Senior Sports Reporter
ZIMBABWE’S Under-20 coach Cephas Mushati has saluted his side after they were crowned the International Handball Federation Trophy Zone VI champions at Chitungwiza Aquatic Complex over the weekend.
This means they are through to the Africa Championships to be held in Togo. The dates for the continental show-piece are yet to be announced.
The regional tournament featured the Under-20 (junior) and Under-18 (youth) men’s teams from Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, South Africa, Zambia and hosts Zimbabwe.
The participating countries fielded both junior and youth teams except for South Africa who competed in the junior section only.
The tournament was played in a round-robin format and Zimbabwe’s juniors won all their matches including against rivals Zambia who were the favourites.
They beat Zambia 36-24 in their last game on Saturday to come out tops, qualifying for the Africa Junior Championships in the process.
Going into the tournament, Mushati said they were targeting to improve their performance, having finished fourth at the previous edition.
“The performance was overwhelming. They actually took the game (against Zambia) into their hands and controlled the whole game. The performance was good, it was beyond my expectation.
“They listened to instructions and controlled the game from the start to the end.
“Actually going into the tournament I had said we want better results and this was a bonus,” said Mushati.
Zambia had earlier on lost to South Africa and Mushati said that boosted his team’s confidence.
“So our plan was to fight a good fight against Zambia. So when South Africa beat Zambia it boosted our players’ confidence. We then beat South Africa and their confidence went up.
“And I think the preparation we had was good, it was better than the last time. Basically, that’s the main reason we went on to play well. We had prepared very well,” said Mushati.
In the other games, Zimbabwe beat Malawi 60-3 in their first match of the tournament. They went on to prevail over South Africa 31-24 and 46-11 against Lesotho. They also beat Eswatini 67-8.
South Africa got silver and Zambia walked away with a bronze medal.
The regional tournament was the first step towards qualification to World Youth and Junior Cup.
Zimbabwe’s Under-20 now shift their focus to the continental event where the winner will proceed to the global tournament.
“Going to the continental level now, our main aim is to expose these guys. We are not worried about winning. Of course, winning will be a bonus but at the moment we want to expose them (to a more competitive event) given that we are going to another level. So going there, it’s going to be good experience for them.
“We need to work on our defence, tactics, so that we won’t concede too many goals. So we are going to work with these guys so that they can stand the pressure,” said Mushati.
Zimbabwe’s Under-20 captain Kudakwashe Soka attributed their success to a good build up to the tournament.
“We were confident because we were prepared. The preparation was good and if we had lost we would have disappointed the board and our coaches because they put in so much effort.
“So going to the Africa Championships, it’s the first time for everyone, so we need to prepare as a team and as individuals. We can do well again,” said Soka.
In the Under-18 section, Zambia were the champions.
Zimbabwe and Malawi were second and third respectively. For Zimbabwe, coming second in this category marked another improved performance
Online Reporter