Zimpapers Logo

Tadious Manyepo Sports Reporter
HE played a central role in the development of handball in the country at the turn of the century before leaving the game’s administration three years ago.

And he is on a mission to take one of the world’s newest games, cestoball, not just around Zimbabwe but across the African continent.

Former Zimbabwe Handball Federation president, Amon Madzvamuse, who now sits at the helm of the newly-formed Zimbabwe Cestoball Association (ZICA), leads a Zimbabwean delegation for a week-long cestoball training programme in India later this month.

Cestoball is a sport which started in Argentina in 1897 and it has similarities with netball and handball.
The ZICA leadership has also been invited by the Asian Cestoball Federation for the workshop which starts on Boxing Day and ends on December 28 in Bangalore, India.

“Zimbabwe have been invited to attend intensive training on the different administrative and technical aspects of cestoball. We are the only African country who have taken the game which is already being played at different levels in the country,” said Madzvamuse.

“After this training camp which we will receive from the Asian Cestoball Federation, we are expected to help take the sport to different countries across the continent.

“But, we are cognisant of the fact that as a country, we have not done what we ought to do to spread the game in all parts of the country. We have set up provincial structures in all the 10 provinces and by April next year the sport will be played competitively from schools up to professional level.

“I was the one in charge when we penetrated all parts of the country introducing handball. Today, handball is played in all corners of the country at every level. The country is participating in regional and international competitions yet in the early 2000s the game was unknown.

“We will take more or less the same thrust on cestoball. We believe by the end of 2020 the game will be known across the country in particular and the continent in general.”

The chairman of the Asian Cestoball Federation, BS Rafiulla, said they will extend all the hospitality to the Zimbabwean delegation during their stay in Bangalore later this month.

“ . . . We are inviting Amon Madzvamuse and Annahmaria Jirimwe (of the Zimbabwe Cestoball Association) to learn cestoball skills and techniques to upgrade cestoball in Zimbabwe and African region countries.

“The Cestoball Federation of India (is) organisiong a Sub-junior and Junior National Cestoball Championship for boys and girls at Bangalore, India, from December 26 to 28 and the Asian Cestoball Federation will extend all the hospitality to the Zimbabwean delegation during their stay in Bangalore,” read part of Rafiulla’s invitation letter sent to ZICA last Tuesday.