ZHF brace for Zone Six

THE Zimbabwe Handball Federation (ZHF) have welcomed recent changes made to the Zones’ tournaments, the Challenge Trophy, which will see the regional events now featuring two age-groups — 20-and-Under and 18-and-Under.

Zimbabwe compete under Zone Six and the tournaments previously targeted the Under-20 and would see both the men and women’s competitions running at the same time.

But this year only the men’s competition will take place, while the women’s events are slated for next year.

The Zone Six event will be held in Lusaka, Zambia, from April 23 to 30 with nine countries from Southern Africa expected to take part.

ZHF vice-president Alfos Mhondiwa said the Under-18s have been the most active group in the country over the years, with schools running the NASH competitions.

Some of them have been to competitions outside the country such as the Partille Cup in Sweden.

“There were some changes as from this year, the Zone Six will feature men only in 2018, then 2019 it will be women, so it’s now alternating.

“But it has added a new category, it’s now the 20-and-Under and 18-and-Under, meaning that we will have two teams for each category.

“Obviously we are excited that our efforts with the juniors will not go to waste, they have somewhere to go (and compete). We are already trying to prepare for the 18-and-Under and the plus on our side is that this Under-18 category is one of the most active group in Zimbabwe.

“We already have teams we drew from the National Youth Games (last year), so they are more active than the seniors because you find that after school some do not have clubs and it affects them both technically and physically,” said Mhondiwa.

In the previous edition the Under20 women got a bronze medal while the men’s side lost in the group stages.

Mhondiwa lamented the fact that they cannot use the Aquatic Complex facility during their camps because of high charges to access the facility.