ALL Zimbabwe Under 21 hockey squads have now left the country for the 2016 Junior World Cup Qualifiers set for Namibia starting this Friday.

The qualifiers, also known as the Junior Africa Cup Championships, are being staged at the Windhoek Hockey Stadium from March 18-28.

Due to financial challenges, the squads travelled in batches with the first group having left on Monday and the second on Tuesday by road from Bulawayo while the last group flew out from Harare yesterday afternoon.

Hockey Association of Zimbabwe (HAZ) president Humphrey Chigwedere said:

“The teams have had to travel in different groups because we did not manage to raise enough funds to be able to fly everyone to this tournament. Players had to look for sponsorship to enable them to travel.
“We managed to get some sponsorship from individuals and companies but it was not enough to cater for all our expenses. We would like to thank these individuals and organisations for the kind gesture.”
Zimbabwe sent out two teams, men and women, that will battle it out against South Africa, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Botswana, Tanzania, Egypt and hosts Namibia.

Chigwedere added: “We hope that they will do us proud at the tournament and bring back some positive results.”

These African Championships are also serving as qualifiers for the Junior World Cups to be held, for men, in India from November 1-11 and for women in Chile from November 23 to December 4.

Squads

Boys: Moses Kapanga, Esau Mufandaedza, Gift Chomunorwa, Raymond Heally, Takunda Chipumha, Forbes Motsi, Johnson Mhlanga, Tafadzwa Zimuto, Batsirai Ncube, Tafadzwa Mugore, Phillip Machaya, Alexander Makuvise, Simba Mudzvova, Misheck Zvizhinji, Tafara Simon, Dominic Ashley, Nevil Gora and Graydon Thornton.

Girls: Cheryl Dzapasi, Michelle Kabaira, Stephanie Campbell, Simone Marchussen, Carla Van Oudtshoorn, Kelly Diplock, Aimee Nativel, Jessica Dollar, Tyla Groenewald, Erin Gray, Tinyayeishe Elijah, Megan Shaxon, Amber Hinze, Stephanie Mauchaza, Lauren Dent and Androniki Hiripis