Zimpapers Logo

Ellina Mhlanga Sports Reporter
THE Harare Handball Association will today host their provincial season opening tournament with more than 20 boys and girls teams expected to participate at Zengeza 4 High School in Chitungwiza.
The one-day event will see Under-20 and Under-16 teams battling it out in two pools per age-group in both the boys and girls categories. The top two teams in each pool will progress to the semi-finals and the winners will proceed to the finals.

The tournament is expected to attract 25 teams from Harare’s seven districts — Glen-view/Mufakose, Mabvuku/Tafara, High Glen, Northern/Central, Warren Park/Mabelreign, Mbare/Hatfield and Chitungwiza.

Harare Handball Association chairperson, Tatenda Musekiwa, said they will be using the event to select provincial teams for the National Youth Games scheduled for August.

“It’s our provincial season opening tournament. We are targeting Under-20s and Under-16s. We are also expecting the national Under-16 team travelling to Sweden (for the Partille Cup in July) to join us.

“It’s a one-day event targeting mainly schools because the age-group we are dealing with is the school-going age group.
“It’s also a preparatory event for our National Youth Games to be held in Masvingo. This is a platform we want to come up with the provincial teams for those age-groups I have mentioned.

So far we have 18 teams that have confirmed their participation,” said Musekiwa.
The tournament was introduced two years ago and Musekiwa said they are expecting a bigger and better event this year.

“This is the third year running. Our teams have improved in terms of handball. We managed to get gold in the boys section at the National Youth Games and also all the teams that came from our province, who played in the Naph and Nash competitions, managed to win some medals.

“We had 14 teams participating last year from the seven districts in both age-groups. The numbers are going up and also there are new schools coming into the tournament. We have Mt Pleasant and Mufakose 4 High, this year they are coming and have already confirmed their participation. So it means we are going bigger and we promise to go bigger in the coming years.

“We are expecting the competition to be stiffer this year with new teams coming in, they should bring in some challenge because they have been playing handball in their schools.

It’s a platform to expose our players and keep them playing,” said Musekiwa.
There will be prizes for the top three teams and prizes for individuals as well for the top goalscorer and most valuable player.

Churchill are the defending champions in the boys Under-20 and Zengeza 4 High School are the Under-16 champions. Girls High are the title holders for both age-groups in the girls section.