The Handball Association of Zambia (HAZ) is scouting for a deficit of K396, 000 to successfully send the men’s national team to compete in the 2020 Men’s Africa Nations Handball Championship slated for January 16-26, in Tunis,Tunisia.
HAZ President Victor Banda said the association had a budget of K753, 000 that included preparations and camping costs for the team but managed to raise the other funds.
Mr. Banda confirmed the development in an interview on Thursday stating that Zambia will be fined £50,000 by the Confederation of African Handball (CAH) if it fails to send the team to the tournament.
We have a deficit of K396, 000 and we are still waiting for response from the Ministry of Youth, Sport and Child Development, Sports Council of Zambia (SCZ) and National Olympic Committee of Zambia (NOCZ) to give us feedback, otherwise if we fail then we shall have to pay a fine £50,000.
said Mr Banda.
Meanwhile, Mr. Banda has since appealed to relevant stakeholders to consider supporting handball and the women’s national team as they are the only sports remaining in the Olympic Qualifiers.
Zambia was drawn in Group D alongside Morocco, Algeria and Congo while Group B has Angola, Gabon, Nigeria and Libya.
Group A has Egypt, DR Congo, Guinea and Kenya while Group C has hostsTunisia, Cameroon, Ivory Cost and Cape Verde.
The Africa Handball Championships also act as qualifiers for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics with the top three finishers set to book an automatic qualification while the top seven qualify for the World Cup.