The Sunday Mail
Online Reporter
ZIMBABWE Cestoball Association (ZICA) is set to embark on a nationwide tour to raise awareness of the country’s newest sporting code.
ZICA’s president Amon Madzvamuse said his association, which was formed in 2019, is currently preparing for the inaugural edition of the sports World Cup games slated for October in Bangkok, Thailand.
“A fortnight ago, we launched our first World Cup national selection process at Samuel Centenary School here and our next stop will be Masvingo, then the Midlands and Bulawayo,” said Madzvamuse.
“The focus is to spread the sport to all parts of the country, while at the same time we establish provincial teams that we will use to select the national team we expect to represent us at the World Cup tournament in Thailand.”
He added that as they race against time in selecting a team that will represent Zimbabwe, his association will be laying the groundwork for the launch of regional national leagues.
“Despite being affected by Covid-19, we took it upon ourselves to concretise Cestoball in 2019, and we have been doing it virtually.
“We are going to launch our first league in May, and, as we speak, we have received balls from the International Cestoball Association, which we intend to give to all the provinces and clubs that are active.
“We want to make sure that we have a viable league in every region and make sure that we overcome whatever challenges the clubs faced.”
Cestoball is a team sport that is very similar to netball.
It originated in Argentina in the late 19th century.
The sport is played both indoors and outdoors.
Two standalone net posts with baskets are positioned on either end of the court.
Players are free to move behind the net posts and the ball used is very much similar to that which is used in handball.
A match is played between two six-player teams.
Each half is 20 minutes long.
Two players each must always be present in both the backcourt and the frontcourt at all times, failure of which will result in a penalty.
The objective of the sport is to score as many goals as possible by shooting the ball through the hoop.
Players are not allowed to run with the ball; instead, they have to pass it up the field to move.
Goals can be scored by shooting the ball from anywhere on the field.
A field goal, which is shot during regular play, is awarded two points, while free throws carry one point each.
The team with the most points at the end of the game is declared the winner.
