Handball under17 national team coach Andrew Kalunga says the national team arrived safely in Kigali Rwanda where a mandatory tournament for top six African countries is taking place.

Kalunga stated that the boys and girls were in good shape and looking forward to winning all the games and setting the bar high for Africa cup.

“My team is intact and ready to play like a team of winners that it is. We do not have any injuries and no player is seemingly scared because they all have been exposed to tougher competitions. They are the zone six champions so they understand what it means to play for everything. This is just a prerequisite tournament for top six countries in Africa but we will handle it just like we would handle any huge competition,” said Kalunga.

The coach also said the Africa cup readiness of the team would be determined by results collected from the ongoing tournament in Kigali.

“I have to ensure that my team performs extremely well and win every game here because it is from these games the association will assume our preparedness for both Africa and world cup tournaments. We have a sea of good players that I left home only because I could not get everyone. I hope those that are here with me will not disappoint because each player has more than two replacements back home,” Kalunga said.

Meanwhile, handball association president Victor Banda in an interview with Goal Diggers! expressed confidence in the team and applauded their unity.

“They are a wonderful team as I have watched them train and play before while they were in camp. I would not believe it if they came back from Kigali with disappointing results especially after seeing how hard it was to mobilise resources for them,” said Banda.

The handball national team will also travel to Morocco for Africa cup tournament that will be held from 3rd September to 23, 2018.