Zim handball teams for S Africa

IHF Zone Six Under-20 Challenge Trophy is scheduled to run from March 31 to April 7 at Sandton in Johannesburg, South Africa, and the tournament will be bankrolled by the world’s handball governing body — the International Handball Federation.
Six countries — Botswana, Mozambique, Lesotho, Zambia, Zimbabwe and the hosts South Africa — are expected to take part in this eight-day tournament.
And the Zimbabwe Handball Federation have already picked a 50-member squad of 25 boys and an equal number of girls that are expected to go into camp this coming Saturday to start their preparations for this tournament.
In fact, this is going to be the first international handball assignment of the year for Zimbabwe and the ZHF president, Amon Madzvamuse, said yesterday that they were leaving no stone unturned in their preparations for this tournament.
“We’ve already stepped up our preparations for this tournament and our fund-raising committee, which is being led by our national Under-20 teams welfare manager Kudakwashe Kanengoni and treasurer Cleopatra Mareverwa, has been running around raising money for this event.
“In fact, our boys and girls Under-20 sides will go into camp on March 17 (this Saturday) and we’ve managed to secure accommodation for the girls’ team at Girls High School in Harare.
“The boys Under-20 team will be accommodated at Allan Wilson School and I can safely say that everything is in order in terms of the two teams’ accommodation,” Madzvamuse said.
The ZHF boss said they were now asking all the players who were named for the national Under-20 men’s and women’s teams to report for camp on Saturday and they should bring their passports with them.
“These players must report for national duty at 2pm on March 17 at Girls High School in Harare with their passports and our preparations for the IHF Zone Six Under-20 Challenge Trophy tournament will start immediately after.” The national Under-20 teams’ welfare manager, Kudakwashe Kanengoni, added that they have arranged a friendly tournament for the two sides against Bradley High School of Bindura and Madziwa’s Mutumba High School on March 24 at Bradley High School.
“In fact, we’ve asked both Bradley and Mutumba to pick their best boys and girls handball sides. They will form one strong team for the boys and a similar side for the girls and they will take on our two national teams in this friendly tournament at Bradley High School,” Kanengoni said.
He said it is only after this friendly tournament that they will trim their squad to 28 — 14 boys and 14 girls — who will go and represent the country at the IHF Zone Six Under-20 Challenge Trophy tournament in South Africa.
Kanengoni also said they were looking at travelling with a 36-member delegation to South Africa and it will include the players, technical team, officials and the medical staff.
“All in all, we need about US$18 000 for camping and transport and we’ve managed to secure some of this money as we prepare to take part in this tournament in South Africa,” Kanengoni said.
Handball has of late been undergoing a major transformation in this country under the guidance of Madzvamuse and his executive committee, and he has brought in the likes of Kanengoni to help him turn Zimbabwe into a regional powerhouse.