Ellina Mhlanga, Sports Reporter
NATIONAL development officer for handball Daniel Mtandwa says preparations for the Under-20 Africa Union Sports Council Region Five championships are underway with the technical teams for the boys and girls sides already in place.
Zimbabwe are going to field two teams for boys and girls in the regional competition scheduled for South Africa from October 23 to 29.
Mtandwa said they have appointed Farai Gwisai, Allan Mandeya and Sipho Mahlangu as coaches for the boys team while Cleopatra Marevererwa and Clemence Tauro will be in charge of the girls side.
“We are going to participate in the Zone Six (Region Five) in October. We are sending both teams, the Under-20 boys and girls.
“In terms of our preparations we have identified the coaches. And they have presented their training programmes.
“They are going to have periodic camps starting next month. They have designed a programme that will see them training at Kwekwe High and Girls High in Harare, they will be rotating between the two venues. They already have the provisional teams,” said Mtandwa.
Mtandwa, however, said they are facing financial challenges to implement their plans for the championships and the situation has been worsened by the fact that the national executive was suspended early this year.
“We have got challenges in terms of finance because we don’t have the mother body. So we are working with Nash head in charge Beauty Mtsambiwa, she is the one who is assisting us. We have got a grant from the International Handball Federation but that money is not enough,” Mtandwa said.
In their last appearance at the championships in Zambia, Zimbabwe won bronze medals in both sections and Mtandwa believes with the right preparations and planning they can do better at this year’s competition.
“We participated in the previous competition in Zambia and we got bronze medals from both teams. If we work hard according to our programme we can beat any team because there is a lot of talent in Zimbabwe.
“Most of our schools play handball, so we start from grassroots and we have the best players,” said Mtandwa.