The Zimbabwe men’s waterpolo team is eyeing success when they represent the country at the FINA Water Polo Challengers Cup scheduled for Singapore from October 8 to 13.
By Freeman Makopa
Team manager and Zimbabwe Aquatic Union president Mary Kloppers told NewsDay Sport that despite this being the first time the country has been invited to this tournament, they are looking forward to a successful tour.
“We are sending a Zimbabwe Men’s Water Polo team to the FINA Water Polo Challengers Cup that will be held in Singapore from October 8 to 13, 2019. I am very much confident that the team will bring back glory and honour,” she said.
“This tournament is designed for countries that do not compete at top level. This is the first year we have been invited to this tournament. It is very exciting for the development of water polo in Zimbabwe because it now means there is life in water polo after school.”
However, Kloppers said although they got the notice for participation a little late, preparations have had to be done very quickly.
“Fortunately, we have players who still play socially and one of our goalies is actually on a waterpolo scholarship in the United States. FINA have kindly made a contribution towards our expenses and we have managed to secure some local corporate sponsorship such as Pearl Yield, Toyota, Bitumen World, Carbontek, Casstech, Pistachio and Bell,” the team manager added.
Kloppers said of the selected players, seven were locally-based while the other six would be joining the team from their bases across the world.
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“As we have never met these teams in competition before, we will just go to gain experience and to see where we stand in the world rankings, in order to have a starting point to work towards next year,” she said.
Squad
Dylan Woodhouse, Bart Zwart, Giovanni Fargnoli, Conor King, Johannes Kloppers, Bradley Crause, Brendon Werritt, Tyler Rowe, Justin Buchanan, Bruce Botton, Rhyder Quinlan, Craig Bydawell, Luke Lister and manager Mary Kloppers
