Zambia Women’s hockey team qualifies for the first world tournament 

The Zambia National Women’s hockey team has qualified to the 2024 Hockey 5s world tournament for the first time ever.
The Zambia women’s hockey team will be among 16 other countries that will take part in the tournament which will run from 24 to 27 January 2024 in Muscat , Oman.
In an interview with Lusaka Star, Zambia Hockey Association (ZHA) General Secretary Elvis Bwalya, revealed that the women made it to the world cup after ranking second from the qualifiers they played in Ismailia, Egypt.
“The qualifiers were held last year in December from the 10th to the 15th and Zambia ranked second, with Namibia ranking first and South Africa ranking third,” he said.
He added that the team has already began training for the hockey world cup tournament , as well as the forth coming Paris 2024 Olympic qualifiers.
“ I would say that we are lucky because between now and January, we also have the qualifiers for Paris so the same team that will participate in the qualifiers , is the same team that will participate in the world cup tournament,” he said.
Mr. Bwalya further highlighted that despite the preparations for the tournament beginning , there is need to arrange camps for the team to ensure adequate training for all the players.
Meanwhile, Loveness Mudenda, a player in the women’s hockey team has revealed that the team is working hard in order to give their best performance at the world cup.
“We know what it takes to be at the world cup ,we have just seen how many teams will be there and so we are trying to prepare ourselves physically, emotionally and mentally ,”she said.
However, she called on the government to intervene and revealed that one of the major challenges the team is facing is the lack of sponsors towards the forthcoming hockey 5s world cup tournament.
“We would like to have sponsors and the government to come through for us because we need jerseys, track suits and sticks and their help would be so encouraging, ” she added.
Ms. Mudenda shared that qualifying for the world cup is one the biggest achievements that the team has made as it is as a result of their hard work and devotion to the game.