Online Reporter
Veronica Gwaze-Zimpapers Sports Hub
ZIMBABWE’s men and women’s volleyball teams are one win away from qualifying for the African Olympic qualifiers after strong showings at the Zonal Olympic Qualifiers in Harare.
The women’s team beat Namibia 3-0, Malawi 3-0 and Zambia 3-2 to top the round-robin stage unbeaten.
They face Zambia again in today’s final at Sunrise Sports Club.
The men’s team lost 3-1 to Zambia but bounced back with 3-1 and 3-0 wins over Malawi and Namibia respectively.
They meet Namibia this afternoon in their final.
Winning today would send the women to the African Olympic qualifiers in Kenya from August 23 to September 5.
The men would advance to the continental qualifier in the Democratic Republic of Congo from August to September 27.
Victory at those tournaments would then guarantee a ticket to the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics.
“Winning the round robin games was a good start for us. It showed us where we stand and gave us confidence,” said women’s captain Nyengeterai Guyo.
“Our team has veterans and fresh blood.
“The more we won, the more the confident we became.”
Guyo said playing at home had helped the team manage pressure.
“It feels good to play in our backyard. Away, there is pressure from the home crowd. Here, our fans are backing us and it makes it easier,” she said.
Zimbabwe are aiming to qualify for Olympic volleyball for the first time.
“Getting this far shows that we have what it takes to contest among the continental and global heavy weights,” she said.
“Zimbabwe are often viewed as underdog in most if not all sports and we took this as a challenge for us to step up our game and catch them by surprise and I am happy that it worked.
“Being viewed as underdogs is also good because we come into the games without a lot of pressure.
“Basically, we had to stand our ground in point management, this is to say when we take the lead, we reminded each other to protect that lead at all costs and not give the opponent any hopes of bouncing back into the games,” added Guyo.
