Patrick Chitumba Midlands Bureau Chief
MIDLANDS will this Easter host an International Handball Festival featuring teams from Zambia and South Africa.
The festival will be held in Kwekwe from today up to March 26, with more than 40 teams battling for honours in six age groups.
According to the organisers, the festival is a mini version of the world’s largest annual handball tournament, the Swedish Partille Cup, which is held in July.
The Kwekwe International Handball Festival chief executive officer Alphios Magiya said: “This is the first event of its kind, not only in Midlands, but in Zimbabwe and Southern Africa. The reason we chose Midlands is because we have recorded a lot of sporting successes in handball.”
The event will feature teams in the Under-10, Under-12, Under-14, Under-16, Under-18, and Under-20 categories.
The festival will be held under the guidelines of the International Handball Federation and school heads have been tasked with assisting in curbing age cheating by vouching for the ages of players on the team lists.
An official in the Ministry of Sport and Recreation Viola Mwale said the festival would open up opportunities for the growth of coaches, athletes and sport development in general.
“We will rally behind this programme to ensure that it is given the respect it deserves as it promotes the sport industry through enabling community linkages through sport and we need more programmes of this magnitude,” said Mwale.
Edgars Stores are partners of the festival while Schweppes offered to donate proceeds from its sales on the day to the festival.