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ZIMBABWE Table Tennis Union team at the ongoing African Table Tennis Federation ITTF — African Youth Championships is shifting focus to individual events after failing to go beyond the group stages in the team events in Gaborone, Botswana.
The competition running until Sunday features Under-19 men and women and Under-15s boys and girls.
They are competing in team and individual events.
The championships got underway on Monday with the team events that are expected to end today.
In the men’s Under-19, Zimbabwe lost all their matches in Group Two as they went down to Tunisia and South Africa with identical 0-3 scorelines to finish at the bottom of the Group.
It was the same story in the Girls section as they lost 0-3 to Egypt in their opening encounter on Monday.
The team then followed that up with another 0-3 loss to South Africa before beating Botswana 3-2 yesterday.
Unfortunately, the win against Botswana was not good enough to take them through to the knock-out stages.
In the Under-15 age group, the boys lost 0-3 to Uganda on Monday.
It was the same outcome yesterday as they were beaten 0-3 by Namibia.
Zimbabwe also found the going tough in the girls Under-15 losing 0-3 to Egypt in their first match on Monday and 1-3 to Namibia yesterday.
Head of delegation Fungai Tanhara said this is a learning curve for the team.
“Ladies Under-19 won against Botswana 3-2. We are proud of them.
“Our junior team is very young, as almost all of them are Under015s, but some are playing in the Under-19s.
“This is their inaugural i nternational tournament as juniors and thus far they have fared very well,” Tanhara said.
“Such tournaments tend to shake even great athletes, but these youngsters are giving it their all and showing great improvement on the second day.
“South Africa have seasoned players who have been exposed to many international events hence they were superior in terms of play and composure.
“Botswana have fairly good exposure as they participated last month in Angola. We won because of great determination and wanting to show what we are made of.
“We are very proud of their great effort.”
The team is now focusing on the singles and doubles events.
“The teams’ events are now in the quarter finals’ stage, and Zimbabwe did not make it as they only won one game.
“Tomorrow (today) we start on singles and doubles events where we are looking forward to individuals playing and giving it their best.
“We expect them to win games as individuals as well as doubles but most of all we need them to learn a great deal from Playing with and against some of the best in Africa.
“One of our players matched up against one of the best players in the world at Under-15s and gave him a good run for his money.
“As the head of delegation, I am super proud of these young juniors and see great potential. We need to attend more tournaments of this magnitude and grow the kid’s confidence in playing at such grand stages,” said Tanhara.
The event is serving as a qualifier for the 2024 World Youth Championships.
Team:
Women Under-19: Naama Boterere, Precious Chimbetete, Kuziva Chidhakwa.
Men Under-19: Carrington Neuromba, Caleb Chizanga, Kupakwashe Samu.
Girls Under-15: Munashe Mulaka, Tatenda Timire, Ruvarashe Charuma.
Boys Under-15: Trust Madoro, Taremekedzwa Makamure, Professor Mwatsika, Shalom Makoni.
Online Reporter