JAYSON KARAN
Zimbabwe men’s and women’s Under-21 field hockey teams are now ready to get down to work at the Junior Africa Cup 2023 this coming week in Ismailia, Egypt.
The tournament is now scheduled to run from March 12th to 16th.
This tournament was was supposed to begin from the 12th to 19th March with the men’s section featuring the hosts Egypt, Kenya, South Africa, Ghana, Nigeria and Zimbabwe and the women’s section was going to be made up of Egypt, South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria and Zimbabwe.
However, the fixtures were changed due to the issue that Ghana and Nigeria pulled out of the tournament.
It is now a four team tournament in each section with the hosts Egypt, Kenya, South Africa and Zimbabwe.
The Zimbabwe Under-21 teams have been in the training camp in Harare since Friday the 3rd of March and have been holding their training at St Johns’ college.
“We are now polishing up on various aspects and pending issues of the game and building team’s chemistry ahead of departure schedule on Wednesday (tomorrow),” said Prince Mwale.
Both teams and their coaches are hoping to finish their campaign on the top for them to secure their sport on the Junior World Cup.
“We know it’s not going to be an easy competition as South Africa and hosts Egypt are always tough teams to beat. We are not going to Egypt to just add numbers in the tournament but to fight and bring home the gold,” said Mwale.
The women’s coach, Brad Heuer also said his charges have made positive strides and hopeful of Women Junior World Cup qualification.
“We are ready for the this tournament as the girls have been performing well in every game we have played in Harare so far. We girls understand what is expected of them,”said Heuer.
“We are very comfortable as we also have five girls who have been there in the Junior World Cup before,”added Brad Heuer.
Some of the players that were at the Junior World Cup in 2022 are captain Jorja Jones, Tadiwanashe Elijah, Tatenda Maswera and vice captain Khanyisile Mzizi.
The Junior Africa Cup will be played in the round Robin format before third place team take fourth place team while the first team will go head to head against the second in the final day of the tournament.