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Enock Chikwata Sports Reporter
Mashonaland West Handball Association have named a strong squad of Under-17 boys team that is set to tour Gothenburg, Sweden, for the Partille Cup tournament slated for July 4-9.

The Partille Cup, started by a Swede handball club IK Sävehof, is the world’s largest annual tournament in handball in terms of number of participants.

The tournament is played every year during for one week in July by young people in the ages between 10 and 21 years old. When the tournament started in 1970, the Partille Cup was played in the small town of Partille.

In 2001, the tournament started to move to Gothenburg, and was completely moved in 2004.

Since the start, over 400 000 participants from 90 countries and six continents have participated and from July 4–9, the Partille Cup will be played for the 47th consecutive year.

And Alfos Mhondiwa, the vice-chairman of the Mashonaland West Handball Association, said their team for this year’s Partille Cup is scheduled to leave the country on July 2.

“As you know, the Partille Cup is the world’s largest youth handball tournament held in Gothenburg, Sweden, and Zimbabwe started participating in this event in 2013 and since then the Mashonaland West Handball Association have been sending a team each year to represent the country in this tournament,” Mhondiwa said.

The seasoned handball administrator and coach said at this year’s Partille Cup, Zimbabwe will be represented by 12 from Mashrhino, which is a select side from the Mashonaland West Province, two from Harare’s Churchill School, an equal number from Haig Park Primary School and a technical team of four members.

The players from Churchill School and Haig Park Primary School are members of AM Academy which is owned by former Zimbabwe Handball Federation president, Amon Madzvamuse, and is running it with help of the federation’s ex-secretary-general Alphios Magiya.

It could not be established yesterday whether Harare’s Girls High School, who have been a regular feature at the Partille Cup since 2013, will also be travelling to Sweden to take part in this year’s event.

He added that the boys side have prepared enough and are raring to go for this year’s Partille Cup tournament and we hope to bring some positive results.

After competing in this year’s Partille Cup, Mashrhino are also expected to take part in the Young Masters Handball Tournament in Cape Town, South Africa, on August 6-7.

The Mashrhino Squad

Russel Nyazamba, Alouis Dick, Tatenda Ngandu, Nyasha Rabvu, Arthur Jali, Njeresa Phiri, Leonard Mambondlani, Tanaka Zhanda, Blessing Ganha, Simbarashe Shekede, Charles Munyanyi.