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Sikhumbuzo Moyo in Bulawayo
ZIMBABWE have pulled out of handball qualifiers for the 11th All Africa Games after failing to secure enough funding. Zonal qualifiers are slated for next week with Zambia playing host to the Zone Six qualifiers, running from March 10 to 13.

Zimbabwe Handball Federation secretary-general Alphios Magiya said failure to secure corporate and Government guarantees in terms of funding had left them with no option, but to pull out of next week’s Zone Six qualifiers.

“We will not be sending out teams for the qualifiers because we failed to secure funding,” said Magiya.

The ZHF secretary-general said it was the first time that handball has had to use qualifiers to participate at the All Africa Games as previously rankings were used.

According to a circular from the handball Zone Six president Ruth Saunders of South Africa, registration fees for participation in the qualifiers is pegged at 500 Euros per team while accommodation is 60 Euros per day per person.

For their two teams, men and women, Zimbabwe needs slightly more than 15 000 Euros. The women had already come up with a 28-member provisional squad so the failure to participate in the Zone Six qualifiers should be demoralising for both players and coaches.

“We had selected 28 players, 14 from the Southern Region and an equal number from the Northern Region which we were going to trim to 14 for the final travelling squad,” said Zimbabwe’s assistant coach Sibulisiwe Okamafuza Moyo.

The ZHF will, however, come under heavy criticism for failing to entice the corporate world, having been informed by the African Handball Federation of the qualifiers dates in November last year.

Charles Omboumahou, the continental body’s secretary-general sent a circular to all the national federations on November 18, 2014, advising that the qualifiers will be held in late February and early March this year.

But some critics in local handball pointed Zimbabwe’s failure to send their teams for the Zone Six qualifiers firmly at the doorstep of the Amon Madzvamuse-led ZHF executive for “neglecting their constituency” — the men’s and women’s senior teams — who have both been inactive at international level for more than five years now.

In fact, Magiya is understood to have recently indicated that they were unlikely to source funds for the Zone Six qualifiers as they were “busy” preparing for ZHF elections scheduled for March 31 and this has seen the executive neglecting their duties of engaging sponsors who were likely to bankroll the national women’s and men’s teams trip to Zambia next week.