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Brandon Moyo, Sports Reporter

THERE will be all to play for today in Egypt when Zimbabwe Under-21 women’s hockey team goes up against Kenya in a Hockey Junior Africa Cup match that could see them book their place in this year’s Junior World Cup scheduled to take place in Santiago, Chile.

Zimbabwe got off to a poor start after losing 3-0 against South Africa, but went on to bounce back in their second match against Egypt on Monday where they won 4-0 to give themselves a fighting chance of making it to the global showpiece taking place from December 6 to 17 2023.

The victory on Monday was evidence of the hard work that Brad Heuer and his charges have been putting in over the past months in preparation for the continental championship and will be looking at continuing with their form as they approach the last hurdle.

After the win on Monday, Zimbabwe went ahead of the hosts to second position with three points and a better goal difference. South Africa are leading the group with six points while Kenya are bottom with zero points.

Goals for the Zimbabwean women against Egypt came from Chelsey-Lee Hares, Athina Mujiba, Tinodiwanashe Elijah and Tanyaradzwa Changa after they quickly settled into the game, getting their first goal from Hares just a few minutes into the encounter.

Zimbabwe had a rest day yesterday and will be in high spirits when they take to the turf today against the East African nation who are yet to register a win in their two matches they have played.

“We will be hoping for a good performance from the girls to just carry on with the way we were going and keep our momentum up there, keep the intensity high and try to stay in those high spirits that we are in at the moment,” said Heuer.

The side went through light training where they worked on a few things, mainly short corners. Also, part of their preparations included getting to know more about their opponents as they have watched them from the two games played so far.

Heuer added that Kenya looks like a physical side that hits the ball a lot but believes that their structure will be able to counter that and is confident that they will be able to go past their opponents. The match is set to start at 1200hrs and prior to that, Egypt will face South Africa in what promises to be a great encounter.

On the other hand, the Zimbabwe men’s team, who have lost their games so far will play against Egypt in their last group encounter while South Africa will be up against Kenya. Top two teams in the men and women’s sections will qualify for the Junior Hockey World Cup. — @brandon_malvin