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Sports Reporter
THE Zimbabwe Handball Federation are scheduled to their Interprovincial Championships this month at Chitungwiza Aquatic Complex as part of efforts to revamp the sport in some of their provinces.
The event will see senior men and women teams drawn from all provinces fighting for honours on October 14 and 15.
Most of the local events have been focusing on juniors while the senior players have been starved of competition.
Interim chairperson for the national league commission Alan Mandeya confirmed the championships are going to cater for seniors as they targeted mostly juniors in the previous editions.
“These are the seniors from the provinces. It’s an interprovincial tournament, so we are saying select teams from the provinces. They are going to be assembled in their provinces and the provinces are going to facilitate the upkeep of the teams to come for the tournament.
“We are expecting 10 provinces for the both men and women teams to come into this championship.
“This is the first time we are trying to host this at senior level. It used to be the junior levels but we said since there is no action we thought that this the right platform to try to bring back life in some provinces where there are no clubs but there is talent which is hidden somewhere which used to play handball,” said Mandeya.
While some of the provinces are active under the regional leagues — Northern, Eastern, Southern and Central regions financial constraints have continued to hinder some of the provinces’ progress.
Some of the provinces that have competitive clubs include Harare, Bulawayo, Masvingo, Mashonaland East and Mashonaland Central.
Mandeya said the tournament is part of the ZHF efforts to revive the sport in some of the provinces since they are hoping to develop a national league.
The current set up will see the top two teams from the regional leagues competing in the National League Championships at the end of their programmes for 2023.
“It is also to assess the quality of handball which is being played in some provinces which are not running leagues. We are hoping that in this tournament we are going to have some selectors, (and) the technical director.
“The technical director is the one who requested for it and as the national league’s committee we just took it up so that we can see how it is because the whole idea is to try to get talent from the senior players we have right now.
“It will contribute to the growth of our teams as we are trying to develop our national league. So we do not want to leave anyone behind because we know that if we start by bringing those people out, they will form clubs, they will form teams and the whole Zimbabwe will grow,” said Mandeya.
He added that they are hoping the event will also benefit coaches and referees.
“It’s talent identification. It will develop the referees, it will develop the coaches, it will develop everyone who is a handball practitioner…So it is going to involve everyone.”
Mandeya urged provincial boards and provincial associations to ensure they have their teams participating in the championships.
Online Reporter