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Takudzwa Chitsiga-Sports Reporter

AMON Madzvamuse, the president of the Zimbabwe Cestoball Association, was yesterday over the moon after his association was finally accredited by the Sports Commission and they are now able to attend international events, starting with the Africa Cestoball tournament to be held in Nairobi, Kenya, from July 7-12. 

Madzvamuse, the former president of the Zimbabwe Handball  Association, confirmed the latest development yesterday and said he was happy that they are now operating above board and will make sure the sport makes some strides in this country. 

“We are happy that we are now certified and licensed by the country’s regulatory board, the Sport and Recreation Commission, and we are now a fully-fledged registered sport association. 

“We received the communiqué this week and we are now going step up our preparations for holding national and international tournaments. The sport is new in this country and like I did with handball, we are going to make an immediate impact with the sport as the door is now open for us to operate as a registered national sport association,’’ Madzvamuse said.

In the letter dated April 29, the Sports Commission advised that Zimbabwe Cestoball Association that they have been accorded a sports association tag as from April 29.

“This letter serves to confirm that the Sports and Recreation Association Commission (SRC) registered Zimbabwe Cestoball Association as a national association in line with the SRC Act (Chapter 25:15). Having meet the registration requirements, (the) ZCA is hereby issued with registration and license numbers which are renewable annually on submission of statutory returns,” they Sports Commission stated. 

And Madzvamuse said they are now going to “up our game’’ and will come up with men’s and women’s senior teams that will take part in a continental cestoball tournament in Nairobi, Kenya, in July. “As Confederation of Africa Cestoball Associations president and president of the Zimbabwe Cestoball Association, I am now looking forward to hold the first continental tournament in Nairobi, Kenya, from July 7-12. We had already lined up a tournament as we were awaiting to be certified. 

“Our next step is to have the continental cestoball tournament that will have 12 countries and we decided to hold it in Kenya because it is more central. 

“We are expecting countries such as the host Kenya, Zimbabwe, Uganda, Cameroon, Malawi, Togo, Cote d’Ivoire, Rwanda, Senegal, Mali and Ghana to take part in this tournament,” said Madzvamuse.

Cestoball is a team sport that is very similar to that of netball, which originated in Argentina in the late 19th century.

The sport is very popular in Argentina and is mostly played by women at a school level. The sport is played both indoors and outdoors, and it is very common to see games being played on basketball courts.