JAYSON KARAN
THE fixtures for the Hockey Junior Africa Cup 2023 have been released by the Africa Hockey Federation. The tournament is set to start on March 12 in Egypt.
Only eleven African countries will take part in the one week long tournament which will consist of both men and women’s teams.
Only Ghana will field one side. Six countries will participate in the men’s section and five in the women’s.
Zimbabwe, South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria and Egypt will take part in the women’s section while in the men’s category Ghana will join the five nations to make it six.
Zimbabwe and Nigeria will go head to head in the opening day of the tournament, with the championship’s first game being between Kenya and Egypt.
On the following day Zimbabwe will face Kenya before facing the hosts, Egypt on Wednesday March 15.
The Zimbabwean women’s team will end their round Robin games against the neighbors South Africa on Saturday 18 March before shifting to the knockout stages.
On the men’s side, Zimbabwe will open their campaign against the hosts, Egypt on Sunday, March 12 before they go on to face neighbors South Africa on the following day.
The Southern African derby will be followed by a match against Nigeria before Zim go on to face Ghana and round up their group match with the match against Kenya.
The two sides have had their preparations on the field of play going well despite facing sponsorship challenges as they build up to the event.
Despite all the challenges they have been facing lately, both the men and women’s teams have shown to have what it takes to fly the Zimbabwean flag high on the international stage.
They have played well in their exhibition matches which took place in February in Harare where they played against select teams at Saint John’s Trust Astro Turf and both teams won their encounters 2-0.
The men’s side once again produce good results when they played in Bulawayo and by this it shows sign of their readiness to conquer Africa as they have been fine tuning for some time.
This tournament will serve as a direct qualifier for the 2023 Junior World Cup, with the winner and runner-up qualifying