The Sunday News
Muzingaye Ncube Sports Reporter
HOCKEY Association of Zimbabwe has confirmed that the country is no longer the venue for the first round qualifiers of the Hockey World League finals following the association’s failure to raise funds to upgrade Magamba Hockey Stadium in Harare as demanded by the International Hockey Federation (FIH).
Initially it had been reported that HAZ was in talks with FIH to take the games to Bulawayo’s Khumalo Hockey Stadium, which had the pre-requisite standards for international matches. However, FIH decided to take the games to Nairobi, Kenya on the grounds that Zimbabwe failed to upgrade Magamba the agreed venue for the games.
The games would be played late in August ending in September.
In a telephone interview, HAZ vice-president Humphrey Chigwedere confirmed the development, saying they had done everything in their power to have the games taken to Bulawayo.
“We tried our best to have the games taken to Khumalo, but FIH said there were fewer flights flying direct to Bulawayo and so most nations were not prepared to take the extra cost of connecting or driving to Bulawayo,” he said.
He said the way forward for them as administrators of hockey was to engage the Government or the corporate sector to have all the stadia fixed or more built.
Meanwhile, the national hockey league for 2014 started during the last weekend of March at Khumalo Hockey Stadium and the next round of matches would be played during the first weekend of May at the same venue. The league runs until September.
Chigwedere said there were five teams participating this year in the men’s category and there would be no women’s league due to the inadequate number of teams.
“The five teams are Hippo Valley and Rams from Chiredzi and three from Bulawayo which are Kings, Queens and Skies. A total of 30 matches will be played in the season and all of them will be at Khumalo Hockey Stadium in Bulawayo due to the non-availability of an artificial turf in other centres including Harare,” he said.
He expressed satisfaction with the first round of the league matches, saying he was impressed by the youngsters who took part in the games.
“We were satisfied with the competition at the first weekend. We were equally excited to see young players like the duo of Ullrich and Gonyora registering interest to take part in this year’s edition of our national league,” said Chigwedere.
“Former national team player, Sherman Bhana who now plies his trade with Queens, the national women’s coach Eddie Chiringa who has shifted allegiance to Skies, Mike Mckillop who now plays for Hippo Valley and veteran Richard Kendall-Ball were all there to entertain the Bulawayo hockey enthusiasts.”
