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Zambia Volleyball Association (ZAVA) general secretary, Charles Haambote said the team arrived safely after enduring a gruelling 32 hour-bus ride and being made to wait for hours for the bus to be fixed after developing a fault in Mahalapi.
Haambote said in an interview that he was confident that the team despite facing challenges; was in high spirits ahead of last evening opening match against Namibia.
“The team suffered some hiccup on their way but that would not in any way affect our performance because the guys are focussed on qualifying to the next stage of the finals,” he said.
Other teams competing in Group R Africa Zone Six World Championship qualifiers, apart from Zambia, Namibia and hosts Botswana, are Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, and Namibia.
He said the games that end on October 13 would be played on a league basis with the top two teams qualifying for the final phase of qualifiers to be held in Egypt 2014.
Haambote was optimistic of a good performance from the men’s team.
The team was seen off at the University of Zambia (UNZA) on Sunday afternoon by Zambia Sports Fans Association (ZASOFA) led by strongman Peter Makembo, who urged the squad to make the country proud and that his association would ensure it supports all sports disciplines.
Meanwhile, Haambote said the women team has intensified training ahead of the qualifiers that would hosted by Zambia at the National Sports Development Centre (NASDEC) from October 21 to 27.
Zambia will play host to Botswana, Zimbabwe, Swaziland, Mozambique and Namibia with Haambote, saying the squad commenced daily training a few weeks ago and plans had been made to have the team moved into residential camping soon.
“So far so good, our women team has stepped up training as they have now started training everyday and what is remaining is for us to put them in residential camping so that they can start training morning and afternoon,” he said.
