Online Reporter
Ellina Mhlanga
Zimpapers Sports Hub
ZIMBABWE Handball Federation technical director Bekezela Ncube says they will kick-start their programme for the year with trials for their Under-18 and Under-20 teams in preparation for the International Handball Federation (IHF) Trophy Zone VI Youth and Junior Men’s tournament.
They will have the trials in Harare and Bulawayo.
The first group is expected to converge in Harare on January 17 and 18, and for Bulawayo, they will run from January 23 to 24.
“These trials are in preparation for the upcoming Zone VI games that are going to be there in April.
“However, we are not yet sure of the venues yet, which country is going to host the games.
“For our trials we put two venues so that we try to minimise transport costs for players. Those that are closer to Harare will attend the Harare trials, and then those that are this side of Bulawayo will attend the Bulawayo trials.
“This is open to every player that thinks they can make it into the national team,” Ncube said.
ZHF technical director Ncube said they are looking at 40 players for each group.
For the Under-20, they will be hoping some of those players that have previously represented the country at the regional tournament in the Under-18 age group also come on board.
“For starters, we are looking at selecting a preliminary list of about 40 players. We want a preliminary list of 40 for Under-18 and 40 for Under-20. And then we will trim as we go.
“We are going to have periodic camps after doing the trials. This is when we are going to trim our team to 16 players.
“Our age groups are like this: Under-20 are those born in 2006-2007, and then Under-18 are those born in 2008 and going up.
“Those that were part of the (previous) Under-18 team are now Under-20s . . . Our hope is that most of them are going to make it, but you never know Handball is now developing in such a way that you might find that we might discover new talent.
“For example, last year when we made our checks during the NASH games, there were new faces that were coming that were actually playing better than those that were in the national team before.
“It’s a matter of these guys having an exposure. But our hope still is, we expect those that were in the Under-18s last year to make it into the Under-20s for this year,” Ncube said.
The trials will be led by the technical director together with the coaches’ commission, and they would want to come up with teams that can surpass previous performances.
“Firstly, our goal is to qualify for the continental phase. We want to have a development plan in place.
“Also, after selecting these players here, we want to have a situation where we have friendly matches with our neighbouring countries, as we try to prepare for this competition.
“The good thing is these junior players, most of them are now incorporated into the club system,” Ncube said.
Zimbabwe hosted the previous two editions, in 2022 and 2024, of the youth and junior men’s tournament in Harare, with their Under-20 side progressing to the Continental Phase on both occasions.
