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| Triangle Parrots in green vs Telone hwaks in white and blue |
Blessed Chauke
Volleyball
teams from Masvingo have commenced preparations towards the return of action
which will see them take part in the Zimbabwean Open Qualifiers tournament that
is going to be played next month.
The
games will be played in three regions to decongest venues and Masvingo will
host teams from the Manicaland province while other clubs from the remaining
provinces will be stationed in Harare and Bulawayo.
This
comes after a call from Zimbabwe Volleyball Association (ZVA) for clubs to
register with provincial associations for them to be able to contest in the
qualifiers.
Chairperson
of the Masvingo Volleyball Association, Clemence Muzondo said they are
targeting to register as many clubs as possible for the tourney’s qualifiers since
it brings together top Zimbabwean volleyball clubs.
“We
are going to register for The Zimbabwean Open Qualifiers since it brings all
top sides together and our clubs will gain more experience. Clubs will assess
their performance against other clubs and it is only this one tournament which
brings volleyball teams together.
“As of now we are not sure how many teams that
are going to register for the tournament and since it is an open tournament any
club is welcome to participate. The regular participants we have now are GZU
Elders, Telone Hawks and Triangle Parrots,” said Muzondo.
Muzondo
said that due to the lockdown, clubs failed to take part into any practice
matches and the only opportunity which they got this year was too far and
expensive for Masvingo based sides.
“Due
to the Covid-19 restrictions, we have not played any games this year. The Victoria
Falls Open was played last weekend but many teams failed to attend, only Telone
Hawks women’s team managed to attend the tournament while others failed due to financial
problems because the trip was very expensive,’’ he said.
Muzondo
also said that the pandemic had also affected their local competition and
forced them to shelve it.
“Because
of the Covid-19 restrictions, we faced a lot of problems especially socio
economics as players and management. Our game time for players has been negatively
affected and the association could not hold any competitions.
“However,
we are also taking advantage of some restrictions to put our house in order and
prepare for the coming season. We are also appealing to the corporate world to
partner Masvingo Volleyball Association to help grow our sports,” he said.
Pardon
Jinya who is the coach of Masvingo College volleyball team popularly known as
Christian Pirates said they are not sure of their participation in the Zimbabwe
Open Qualifiers since their team stand guided by authorities on the way
forward.
“Ours
is a school team and it is sponsored by Masvingo Christian College, so we are
not sure if we will travel for The Zim Open Qualifiers tournament. There has
not been much action since we all know that sport had been banned because of
COVID-19.
“We
last played games a long time ago and as you are aware of, sporting activities
have been in schools and as a result we are not sure whether we will register
for the Open tournament or not,” said Jinya.
