By MICHAEL MIYOBA
ZAMBIA national Hockey women’s team coach Floyd Chomba says the test series against Zimbabwe will help to prepare adequately for the 2024 Olympic qualifiers scheduled for later this year.
Chomba said the girls were looking forward to play Zimbabwe to assess where they need to improve before the Olympic qualifiers.
He was speaking in an interview before the team left for Harare yesterday for the test series which will be played in a best of three sets.
South Africa will host the Olympic qualifiers which will run from October 29 to November 5 in Pretoria.
“The main thing we are going for is to make sure that we gauge and see how our team is fairing. We are preparing for the Paris qualifiers and it is important that before we go for that big tournament that we are able to see the mistakes and weakness of the team,” Chomba said.
Despite the test series being just friendly games, he expects stiff competition from Zimbabwe who will also be using the games to prepare for the Olympic qualifiers.
“We expect tough competition from Zimbabwe who have been our friends for a long time and they have given us test series and we have met in a lot of competitions so we expect very good competition from them,” Chomba said.
Meanwhile, national men’s hockey team assistant coach David Kapeso said; “Everything is set, all the players are in good shape and it is a privilege for us to go to Zimbabwe for the test series as we prepare for the Paris senior Olympic qualifiers.”
After the test series in Zimbabwe, the two teams will shift their focus to the Olympic qualifiers which will be held in Johannesburg.
Zambia will face off against Namibia, Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda, Ghana Zimbabwe and hosts South Africa, for the one direct slot allocated to Africa for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
