Lack of funds hits Byo hockey teams

Sport
BULAWAYO will not be sending hockey teams to the Provincial Indoor Hockey tournament to be hosted from March 21 to 22 at the Sunrise Sports club in Harare due to lack of funds.

BULAWAYO will not be sending hockey teams to the Provincial Indoor Hockey tournament to be hosted from March 21 to 22 at the Sunrise Sports club in Harare due to lack of funds.

GRACE CHIRANGANDE SPORTS CORRESPONDENT

Matabeleland Hockey Board Public relations officer Loveness Chirwa said: “Matabeleland will not be sending teams to Harare indoor hockey championships because there is lack of adequate numbers of committed people and there is no funding in hockey. We lack financial support and that makes it difficult to send a team.”

The two-day Hockey Association of Zimbabwe (HAZ) tournament will be used to select a team that will represent Zimbabwe at the All-Africa Games to be hosted later in September in Congo Brazzaville.

Meanwhile, secretary-general for the Harare Hockey Board, Mandla Matare said two provinces had yet to confirm participation yet the deadline for confirmation is today.

“The deadline for all teams to have confirmed is tomorrow (Friday), but so far Mashonaland Central and Masvingo have confirmed their participation and it is unfortunate that Matabeleland will not be sending a team because the issues are beyond the province’s control.

The tournament will go on and we would like many provinces to take part,” he said.

Matare said the competition will be used to discover best players who would be chosen by HAZ to represent Zimbabwe on the upcoming international competitions lined up for this year.

“The tournament which was initiated by HAZ will be used to see which best players are present and from those individuals we will select people to represent Zimbabwe at regional, national and international hockey tournaments for 2015,” he added.