Chronicle Editor
Nkosilathi Sibanda, Sports Writer
THE ZIMBABWE Volleyball Association (ZVA) has committed to hosting the regional qualifiers for the All-Africa Games, as a way to compensate for the cancellation of the Zone VI Championships that were supposed to be hosted by the country.
Africa’s biggest sporting extravaganza will be held next year in Accra, Ghana from March 8 to 23.
The latest development comes as the ZVA was met with disappointment following the immediate cancellation of the Confederation of African Volleyball (CAVB) Zone VI Nations Championships.
Given that the tournament cancellation was beyond ZVA’s control, the association says they are in process of engaging the Zone VI region and the Confederation of African Volleyball, according to the ZVA secretary-general Enias Kondo.
“Having failed to host the Zone VI tournament, due to the withdrawal made by member countries, we felt there was a need to engage the region so that we get to host the upcoming qualifiers for African Games.
“We felt strongly that we have to get an event from the region that we are to host. A lot of resources were invested in the run up to the organisation of the cancelled tournament. The region has already given the nod and from our side we are committed to the responsibility of hosting the qualifiers,” said Kondo. While dates for the qualifiers were yet to be revealed, Kondo expressed optimism that the country will indeed play host to the qualifiers.
In an earlier interview with Zimpapers Sports Hub, Kondo said at the moment all national teams will now focus on training for other tournaments.
“Our aim now is to shift focus and turn to our major tournaments in our calendar. We want to give it our all in the All-Africa Games qualifiers. As the dates of the qualifiers near, our national teams will be geared for it,” said Kondo.
Among other commitments, the ZVA has on their table the inter-provincial games scheduled for later in October. Only last week, just a few days before the start of the Zone VI tournament, that were to start on September 30 at the City Sports Centre in Harare, the ZVA received the news that all the countries that had previously assured of their commitment to participate had decided to pull out.
Countries that had initially planned to take part are Angola, Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Reasons behind the pull out vary but, chief among those was lack of funding.
Bongani Ndlovu