Zimbabwe's Under-21 women's field hockey team got their campaign at the Junior Africa Cup on a losing note yesterday when they went down 3-0 to South Africa in Ismailia, Egypt.
It was the opening match for the tournament that got underway yesterday morning.
With South Africa exposed to more game time than Zimbabwe, they went into yesterday's game as the favourites and they took the lead in the first quarter.
They were 2-0 up by half time and sealed their victory in the third quarter. They got their goals from Tamlyn Kock, Mikkela Le Roux and Ntsopa Mokoena.
Although they managed to restrict their opponents in the last quarter, the damage had already done.
Zimbabwe's coach Brad Heuer said lack of confidence was their major setback yesterday.
"It was a hard game for the girls. They were nervous from the start and it showed in the first quarter. They slowly got into the game but weren't really ever confident enough until the fourth quarter.
"They improved a lot in the last quarter. The passion they had in the last quarter was incredible. They came out harder and faster and looked like a much better team.
"We conceded all three goals from our mistakes. The mistakes were made because the girls weren't composed enough to pass the ball put from the back and South Africa took advantage of that and took their chances. We need to make less errors in crucial areas," Heuer said.
Zimbabwe, Kenya, South Africa and hosts Egypt are taking part in the event featuring both men and women's teams.
In the other match in the women's section, Egypt beat Kenya 2-0. However, South Africa lead the standings on superior goal difference.
Following yesterday's defeat, Zimbabwe have to up their game when they meet Egypt today in their second game.
South Africa take on Kenya in the other match.
In the men's section Zimbabwe were scheduled to take on South Africa late yesterday in their opening encounter as well. They will take on Kenya in their second game today.
The four countries are not only battling it out for the Junior Africa Cup title but they are also chasing qualification to the FIH Junior World Cup to be held later in the year.
The top two teams per gender from the continental showpiece progress to the global tournament.
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The men's event will be held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and Chile will host the women's competition.
The four countries are playing each other in a round robin format before the teams that finish on the bottom face the third placed sides while first and second placed teams play each other to determine the African champions and the final positions.
Zimbabwe's women team has been to the Junior World Cup before. They were part of the 16 teams at the previous Junior World Cup held in South Africa. The event was rescheduled from 2021 to last year due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
They are hoping for a quick return to the global tournament and they need to win today's game against Egypt if they are to keep their hopes of qualifying for the global event alive.
The tournament was initially scheduled to run until Sunday but is now ending on Thursday following the withdrawal of Ghana and Nigeria.
