The Sunday Mail
Financial constraints have choked the national beach volleyball Under-23 men’s team dreams of competing at this week’s World Championships in Myslowice, Poland.
The country qualified for the tournament, which begins on Tuesday courtesy of a wild card entry, but the failure by the Zimbabwe Volleyball Association to raise US$15 000 for the trip has cut the cheer.
ZVA president Frederick Ndlovu disclosed that their fund-raising efforts, which included approaching Government through the Ministry of Sport, Arts and Culture, had been futile.
He added that the local volleyball governing board has since informed the Confederation of African Volleyball (Cavb) of its ordeal.
“We will not be travelling for the World Championships. As a federation we could not raise the funds needed. We were looking for at least US$15 000. but that could not be found. We approached the ministry and they said they had no money.
“We can’t shoulder the load alone, we played our part but failed to meet the target. Last year we successfully managed to raise money for the team but this year has been different, the economic situation is biting and it’s quite unfortunate for our players.
“They had prepared extensively for the competition, but sadly they won’t be in Poland,” he said.
The men’s Under-21 beach volleyball team has also qualified for the World Championships set for Cyprus in July and the ZVA boss said efforts are being made to ensure the youngsters avoid a similar fate.
“We continuously ask for help from the Government, there are still many international events coming and we need help even from the corporate world.
“We have not yet thrown in the towel, we haven’t pulled out of the Under-21 beach championship yet . . . We will continue with efforts to acquire funding,” said Ndlovu.
In April, Zimbabwe also failed to send a team for the World Youth Olympic qualifiers in Ghana.
The country, together with Mozambique and Swaziland, had qualified for the championships after receiving wild card entries as most African teams failed to confirm their participation at the Continental Cup, which was supposed to act as the qualifier for the world finals, in time.
