Harare — The newly-elected Zimbabwe Handball Federation executive is expecting to move up a gear in transforming the sport when they embark on a process to establish the number of existent clubs in the country.

The search will begin with a clubs' tournament to be held later this month in Harare. According to the federation, there have not been club competitions in the country for the past five years with schools' tournaments taking centre stage. And, during the same period, no club has affiliated with the federation.

But the newly-elected executive, under the leadership of Amon Madzvamuse, said they were determined to open a new chapter. "We will start by a club's tournament in which all the clubs, both male and female, will be expected to take part. "But for now we cannot establish the numbers of clubs because it is this process that we are going to use to know the clubs that are existent in the country," said Madzvamuse.

He described the tournament as "an acid test" for clubs to show commitment to the federation. "But those who would have failed to take part in the tournament for reasons beyond their control can still get an opportunity to come and declare their affiliation to the federation. "We have been told by many provincial leaders that clubs are there but we cannot buy that until after this process," he said.

He added that according to reports there were 15 female and 20 male clubs in the country. He said many clubs had gone bust because of a lack of tournaments in the past few years. Interestingly, despite the absence of competitive handball at club level, Zimbabwe is ranked third in the Zone Six.

"This country should be on the top in the Zone and that is what we are going to be working on," Madzvamuse said. Since he took over from Agrippa Sora last month, Madzvamuse and his executive have struck a deal with the Swiss handball association for the country's players to play in the European country's Division Two and Three leagues.