Chronicle Editor
Nkosilathi Sibanda, [email protected]
FOLLOWING the abrupt cancellation of the Confederation of African Volleyball (CAVB) Zone VI Nations Championships, the Zimbabwe Volleyball Association (ZVA) has said they will now focus on their preparations for the All Africa Games.
Africa’s biggest sporting extravaganza will be held next year in Accra, Ghana from March 8 to 23.
With just a few days before the start of the Zone VI tournament, that was to start on September 30 at the City Sports Centre in Harare, the hosts received confirmation that countries that had previously assured of their commitment to participate had decided to pull out.
Countries that had initially planned to take part are Angola, Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
But, in the past two weeks, the Zimbabwe Volleyball Association announced that Angola, Mozambique, South Africa, Lesotho, Malawi and Botswana had opted out.
The ZVA and the region had pinned hopes on Eswatini, Namibia, Zambia and the hosts to fight for glory.
ZVA, first announced through its social media handles, of the cancellation of the tournament.
“The Zone VI Executive regrets to advise cancellation of the tournament below as all registered teams, except the host, are no longer able to travel for the tournament for varying reasons. The Zone will continue pushing for this tournament to become a reality in the future,” read the announcement.
The same message was also relayed by the Confederation of African Volleyball.
Many volleyball followers locally and in the region have expressed disappointment on how Zone VI countries made their “last minute” pull out but, the ZVA executive has said all hope was not lost.
The association’s secretary-general, Kenneth Kondo, in an interview with Zimpapers Sports Hub said they have been forced to refocus.
“There is still hope in volleyball despite the sudden cancellation of games. Our aim now is to shift focus and turn to our major tournaments in our calendar. We want to give it our all to the All-Africa Games. As the dates of the qualifiers near, our national teams will be geared for it,” said Kondo.
Among other commitments, the ZVA has on their table are the inter-provincial games that they will host soon.
Online Reporter