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Collin Matiza Sports Editor
TSG Bergedorf, the organisers of the annual Hanse Cup youth handball tournament in Hamburg, Germany, have officially invited three Zimbabwean teams to compete at next year’s event which will be held during the Easter Holidays in March.

The Hanse Cup has traditionally been attracting top junior handball teams from seven European countries – Switzerland, Sweden, France, Denmark, Belgium, the Netherlands and the hosts Germany – since its inception in 2011.

But this year, the organisers of this tournament, TSG Bergedorf, broke with tradition when they invited a Mashrhino boys and girls team from Zimbabwe’s Mashonaland West Province to take part in this event which was staged in April.

In fact, the Mashrhino team, which was picked by the Mashonaland West Handball Association, wrote their own piece of history when they became the first side from outside Europe and the first from Africa to take part in the Hanse Cup in Hamburg.

Their participation in this year’s Hanse Cup was facilitated by the GeBe Education and Sports Foundation, a German non-profit organisation which has links with a number of sport associations in Germany and has a branch in Cape Town, South Africa.

And TSG Bergedorf, who run the Hanse Cup in conjuction with the Hamburger Handball Association in Hamburg, have agreed to accommodate three teams from Zimbabwe at next year’s tournament following a request from the GeBe Foundation.

The three Zimbabwean teams that are expected to take part in next year’s Hanse Cup are Mashrhino, who will be making their second straight appearance at the tournament, Harare’s Girls High School and a boys or girls Under-16 national side.

In fact, the Mashonaland West Handball Association have already picked their boys and girls Under-16 teams for the 2016 Hanse Cup while Harare’s Girls High School recently indicated that they would send two teams to this tournament which is designed for the Under-15, 17 and 19 age-groups.

The Mashrhino and Girls High School teams are likely to be joined at next year’s Hanse Cup by a national Under-16 side which would be picked by the Zimbabwe Handball Association whose president, Amon Madzvamuse, yesterday confirmed that they have received an invitation from TSG Bergedorf to send a team to this tournament.