The Herald
Ellina Mhlanga
Senior Sports Reporter
ZIMBABWE’S Under-21 men’s and women’s field hockey teams are fancying their chances at the Junior Africa Cup that gets underway this coming weekend in Ismailia, Egypt.
The tournament is now scheduled to run from March 12 to 16.
Initially it was set for March 12 to 19 with the men’s section featuring Egypt, Kenya, Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa and Zimbabwe while the women’s section was going to be made up of Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa and Zimbabwe.
However, Ghana and Nigeria pulled out of the tournament and the schedule has been adjusted.
It will now be a four-team competition in each section — men and women — with hosts Egypt, Kenya, South Africa and Zimbabwe competing.
The national Under-21 sides trooped into their final camp last Friday in Harare and have been holding their practice sessions at St John’s College.
Under-21 men’s coach Prince Mwale said they are now polishing up on the various aspects of the game ahead of the departure scheduled for tomorrow.
“So I think obviously now in the last phases we are just refining our set-pieces and sort of tweaking the few things we need to.
“I think a lot of our game is based on interconnectivity. So the boys have been spread apart for a long time, so we are just working on finding the team chemistry, just working on moving as a unit and just being together,” Mwale said.
The continental event in Egypt is serving as a qualifier for the FIH Junior World Cup to be held later in the year and the top two teams per gender qualify.
Both teams are hoping for a top two finish to secure their spots at the Junior World Cup.
Mwale said they are not going to Egypt to add numbers.
“We know it’s not easy, Egypt and South Africa are always tough competition. But we are not going to the competition to just attend.
“Our main goal is actually, first to qualify and secondly to win the tournament. So obviously our first focus is getting us through to that final and then from there we are pushing to win. So that’s basically our target,” said Mwale.
Women’s team coach, Brad Heuer, said they have made positive strides and is hopeful of the Junior World Cup qualification.
“We have been playing in the Harare League. I think we have played about eight, nine games together. So the chemistry is there, the girls understand the formation, the girls understand what is expected of them.
“They are starting to understand how each other play on the field. So I think we are as prepared as we can be in a positive way.
“I think we have got a huge chance. We have got a huge opportunity with Nigeria pulling out, Ghana pulling out, it’s minimised the teams and it’s given us a massive opportunity to qualify.
“And there is quite a lot of pressure considering that we (the women’s side) have been at the last two Junior World Cups. But I think we have got the team. We have five girls that already have been there, who played last year in the World Cup, so with their experience and everything I think that we will be able to pick up our game and qualify,” said Heuer. Some of the players that were at the Junior World Cup last year are captain Jorja Jones, Tadiwanashe Elijah, Tatenda Maswera and vice-captain Khanyisile Mzizi.
The tournament will be played in a round-robin format before the third-placed team take on the fourth-placed side while the first placed and second-placed teams face each other on the last day of the event to determine the final rankings, and the African champions.
