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Ellina Mhlanga

Senior Sports Reporter

ZIMBABWE Handball Federation technical director Farai Gwisai believes their Under-20 team has the potential for another positive show at the International Handball Federation Trophy Zone Six Junior (Under-20) and Youth (Under-18) Men.

The regional tournament is scheduled for May 5 to 12 with Zimbabwe set to host the competition at Chitungwiza Aquatic Complex.

They hosted the previous edition in 2022 and the Under-20 emerged tops in their age group while the Under-18 side placed second behind Zambia.

“So far, we have submitted the provisional lists of 28 players per age group. We had trials at Houghton Park Primary School.

“We had more than 100 players that turned up. Luckily, most of them had passports, so we managed to send our 28 players for each category on the 15th of March. That was the closing date.

“We have potential in the Under-20. The guys are coming from Under-18 going to Under-20, and they have got experience and exposure at the competition.

“Also, at the same time we had a lot of activities in handball last year. That’s why we had a large pool of players, our league has just started, so we are going to have more competition to prepare them.

“From the previous team, from Under-20 we have got seven players who were playing in the A team.

“At Under-18 level, we have two or three players from the last team. So we are hoping that they will influence the performance of the other players,” said Gwisai.

The squads will be trimmed to 14 for the final teams when the national federation holds a camp next month.

Cephas Mushati is in charge of the juniors while the youth team is under the guidance of Alan Mandeya.

Gwisai said they are looking at bringing the players into camp after the Easter Holiday.

“We are expecting them in camp anytime soon, probably after Easter or around 15 April. We have a camp lined up for two to three weeks to prepare them for the competition.

“We will call them into camp and trim the team bit by bit . . .We will look at their performance as we trim the team.

“They will be trimmed to 14. They will go straight into competition coming from the camp.”

So far, the players have been given training programmes by the coaches.

“Already the players have been given physical training programmes so that when they come for camp, they are going to be carrying out a fitness test, to see whether they are at the required physical level,” said Gwisai.

“The most competitive from those that have confirmed is Mozambique. For the past two, or three editions they haven’t been coming for the tournament . . . So we are hoping to meet them and we will play as we go and see how best we can do,” Gwisai said.

Meanwhile, the Local Organising Committee led by ZHF secretary general Edson Chirowodza had a meeting last week to map the way forward.

“What’s major at the moment is that the IHF has confirmed referees to be in charge of the games.

They have confirmed teams that have registered.

“We had a LOC meeting to activate our various departments last week. We were looking into the various departmental action plans and progress made,” said Chirowodza.

Countries that have confirmed their participation include Mozambique, South Africa, Zambia, Malawi, Namibia and Lesotho.