Suburban
THE Zimbabwe Under 21 women’s hockey team qualified for the 2023 Junior World Cup on the back of splendid performances from school girls who make up the national junior team.
The school girls drawn from Zimbabwe’s top hockey playing schools finished second at the Africa Junior Cup in Egypt.
It was a dream come true for the hockey ladies who underlined the importance schools play in the nurturing of sporting talent. Schools are an important stage in junior development and the hockey team’s feat buttressed this open secret. School communities comprising the schools administration, parents and coaches also deserve plaudits for the support they give to upcoming athletes.
The junior hockey team’s exploits have earned them a ticket to the 2023 Junior World Cup scheduled for the end of this year in Santiago, Chile.
Zimbabwe booked their place in the global showpiece after securing second place in the ongoing Africa Junior Cup (AJC) in Ismailia, Egypt, finishing with six points from a possible nine. South Africa, who topped the standings won all their three games to secure nine out of nine points.
The Women’s Junior World Cup is scheduled for Santiago from December 6 to 17.
Going into Wednesday’s match against Kenya needing a win to ensure that their ticket to Chile is secured, Zimbabwe put up a brilliant performance against the East African nation to convincingly win the game 7-0. It took an all-round performance from the Brad Heuer-coached side to make sure that the team crosses the finish line after dominating their last match from the start to the finish, not giving the Kenyans any space.
Tinodiwanashe Elijah was the star performer for Zimbabwe, scoring a hat-trick with her third goal coming in the final minute of the game. Kaylee Sithole opened the scoring for Zimbabwe in the third minute before Khanyisile Mzizi doubled the score, 11 minutes into the game as they went into the second quarter with a two-goal advantage.
Two more goals coming from Sithole (20 minutes) and Tanyaradzwa Changa (28 minutes) in the second quarter saw Zimbabwe double up their lead and in the third stanza, Elijah got her first goal (35 minutes) of the match before going on to score twice in the 51st and 59th minute to put the icing on the cake and send her team through to the World Cup.
Zimbabwe got off to a poor start after losing 3-0 against South Africa on Sunday but bounced back against the hosts, Egypt in their second match on Monday where they won 4-0 to give themselves a fighting chance going into yesterday’s make-or-break tie.
The victory and qualification were evidence of the hard work that the team has been putting in over the past months in preparation for the continental championship despite facing sponsorship challenges building up to the tournament. The Hockey Association of Zimbabwe and a number of schools from where the players were drawn congratulated the girls for the World Cup qualification.
“Our U21 ladies have qualified for the Junior World Cup to be played in Chile later this year. Congratulations on your outstanding win against Kenya today. We wish you the best of luck in your final tomorrow against South Africa. Fly the flag high.
“Well done to you all-coaches, managers, players, sports therapist and everyone who has made this possible,’’ read the statement from the HAZ. It will be the fourth time that Zimbabwe appear at the Junior World Cup having participated in 2005, 2016 and 2021. This year’s qualification makes it three consecutive Junior World Cup appearances.
The 2021 edition took place in April last year in Potchefstroom, South Africa.
In other women’s matches which took place yesterday, South Africa thumped Egypt 11-0.
However, it was not a good tournament for the Zimbabwe men’s team who failed to qualify for the World Cup after a poor performance that saw them lose their two opening matches against South Africa and Kenya, leaving them at the bottom of the standings. Zimbabwe lost their first match 6-0 against South Africa before a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Kenya. The men fell to Egypt 3-1 in their last match. — Suburban Reporter/Chronicle
