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Ellina Mhlanga–Senior Sports Reporter

THE national Under-18 and Under-20 handball teams are set to continue with the periodic camps despite the postponement of the International Handball Federation Trophy Zone Six, with the first one held at Girls High School over the weekend. 

The camp, which also served as a selection platform for more players into the squads that were picked last year, ran from Thursday to Sunday. 

The Zimbabwe Handball Federation received communication about the postponement of the regional tournament when the teams were already in camp. 

After their first meeting, ZHF technical director, Farai Gwisai, said they still have a lot of to do to bring the players to the standard they want. 

“You would find that most of the players did not have the kind of fitness that we were looking at because like the Under-18s, there was nothing much happening in their age-group unlike the Under-20s. 

“The Under-20s, their fitness level was okay because they are participating in clubs. 

“But what I liked is that the Under-18s were adapting to training, even the Under-20s because the Under-18 coach had to go back to the basics and raised the standard of the players going upwards. 

“So that was something positive, we noticed some improvements by the time they left the camp on Sunday. So they were given training programmes to work with while at home, in particular for fitness conditioning. 

“When they come back they  undergo fitness tests to check if they are fit or not,” said Gwisai. 

The Under-18 side is under the guidance of Alan Mandeya while Cephas Mushati is in charge of the Under-20 team. 

Gwisai said since the tournament has been moved to run between June and July, they are going to adjust their programme so that they add more camps before they go for the final camp just before the competition. 

“What we have done now is we have our initial team list, a long-list in case IHF ask for the list, we then submit that list and we continue practising. 

“However, our selection process is also continuous, we need to look for the best players so we will be assessing as we go and those that fail to make the grade we want, we release them and bring in other players until the final point. 

“So we are not going to stop, we will continue with our planned dates and add more camps so that we really prepare,” said Gwisai. 

The national federation has engaged the authorities for the refurbishment of the competition venues — Chitungwiza Aquatic Complex and City Sports Centre. 

Their application for clearance to hold the regional event had been approved before the recent changes. 

The tournament was initially set to take place from April 25 to 30. 

The Local Organising Committee went ahead with their meeting on Saturday to deliberate on the preparations for the competition.

ZHF secretary general, Edson Chirowodza, said they will continue with the preparations as they wait for the announcement of the actual dates for the tournament.