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Collin Matiza and Ellina Mhlanga
THREE Zimbabwean junior handball teams will this weekend step up their preparations for the inaugural Young Masters international tournament set for August 15-16 in Cape Town, South Africa.

The Young Masters tournament is being hosted by the Cape Town-based GeBe Education and Sports Foundation in conjunction with the Young Masters Handball Club and the Western Cape Handball Association of South Africa.

The two-day tournament is designed for the boys and girls Under-17 and Under-16 age-groups and it is expected to attract teams from Botswana, Mozambique, Namibia, Swaziland, Zimbabwe and the hosts South Africa.

And the Zimbabwe Handball Federation have already named a strong 40-member boys and girls team that will represent the country at this tournament in the Mother City next weekend.

Amon Madzvamuse, the ZHF president, said yesterday that all is set for the team to compete in the Young Masters tournament and the squad will go into camp today at Girls High School in Harare.

“At the Young Masters tournament, we will be represented by a boys Under-17 team and two girls teams that will compete in the Under-17 and 16 age-groups and they will be under the guidance of coaches Daniel Mutandwa, Bernard Muzanenhamo and Innocent Kanosvova.

“In coming up with the teams for this tournament, we decided to spread our net wide and this has seen us coming up with players from Bulawayo, Matabeleland South, Midlands, Mashonaland Central and Mashonaland West.

“From Matabeleland, we have players picked from a number of schools including JZ Moyo.

“From Midlands we have players from Kwekwe High School while Mashonaland Central have representatives from Bradley High School.

“But the biggest number of players is coming from Mashonaland West’s Kuwadzana and Chinhoyi High School while Girls High School from Harare also have a number of players who are set to be part of Team Zimbabwe for the Young Masters tournament and we are now in the process of finalising our final preparations for this tour of South Africa next week,” said Madzvamuse.

The Young Masters tournament is part of a multi-cultural programme that is being hosted by the GeBe Foundation at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology and apart from playing handball, the participants will also have the opportunity of touring Cape Town’s tourist resort areas.

Meanwhile, the Sports Commission have ordered the Zimbabwe Handball Federation to hold their elections to elect a new executive board before the end of this month.

ZHF had elections on May 30, which saw Madzavmuse being ousted with Simbiso Mpepereki taking over as the president. Alphios Magiya came in as the vice-president. The term of office for the previous executive led by Madzvamuse came to an end on March 31 but elections that were supposed to be held on that same day in Kariba were cancelled after some of the provinces failed to attend.

Madzvamuse challenged the outcome of the election.

In a statement released by the Sports Commission director sport development, Joseph Muchechetere, the country’’s supreme sports body said they were aware of the factions that exist within the federation.

Madzvamuse said they have set August 31 as the date for the elections and will meet with the national executive board to decide on the venue.