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Collin Matiza Sports Editor
NEXT weekend will see the staging of the fifth edition of the country’s biggest youth handball tournament — the Mashrhino Cup — at Jameson High School in Kadoma.

This year’s tournament is slated to run from June 7 to 9 and more than 70 teams, drawn from across the country, are expected to take part in this three-day event.

Alfos Mhondiwa, one of the tournament’s organisers, told The Herald yesterday they were expecting more than 1 000 participants at this year’s event, with most of them coming from Mashonaland West Province.

“This is the biggest youth handball tournament in Zimbabwe and it helps us in talent identification, social cohesion in sport and skill sharing.

“And for the first time this year, we will be introducing or launching a mini five-a-side handball tournament at the same event which will add more excitement to this competition,” Mhondiwa said.

This year’s Mashrhino Cup will be open for the 11 years and under (born in 2008 or later), 13 years and under (born in 2006 or later), 16 years and under (born in 2003 or later) and 20 years and under (born in 1999 or later) age-groups for both boys and girls.

Team registration is $100 per team and the teams will be accommodated at Jameson High School during this tournament, Mhondiwa said.

The Mashrhino Cup is the brainchild of Mhondiwa who mooted the idea of staging this event after having attended the Partille Cup in Gothenburg, Sweden.

The Partille Cup is the largest international handball event in the world and one of the top-events of all kinds of youth sports.
Started by the Swedish handball club IK Sävehof, it is the world’s largest annual tournament in handball in terms of number of participants.

The tournament is played every year during one week in July by young people in the ages between 10 and 21 years old.
Zimbabwe have been sending teams to the Partille Cup for close to 10 years now and among the local teams that have been to this tournament is Mashrhino from Mashonaland West Province which is headed by Mhondiwa, who is also the vice-president of the Zimbabwe Handball Federation.