Sunday, October 12 Police HC Vs Mekele 70 (6:00pm) Police Handball Club have set themselves a target of winning at least three games at the 37th Africa Clubs Championships in Casablanca, Morocco, starting with Sunday’s opening match against Ethiopian champions Mekele 70. Police, who will be making their fourth appearance at the tournament since their debut in 2012, have failed to win a single match on either occasion they participated. They will now be hoping to improve on their previous unimpressive performances despite having a tough draw at this year’s edition against two continental powerhouses Al Ahly and Zamalek from Egypt, JSK of Democratic Republic of Congo and Ethiopian champions Mekele 70. “We know we are in a tough group, and we know beating Al Ahly and Zamalek will be a tough task but we want to fight until the end because we know we now have a strong team enough to fight against Africa's finest teams,” said club coach Antoine Ntabanganyimana. “We will have to beat at least JSK of Democratic Republic of Congo and Ethiopian champions Mekele 70 Although they are also strong. If we can reach the quarterfinals, then we can fight to finish in the top eight teams on continental level which will be good history for us,” he added. Ntabanganyimana admitted that it’s going to be very tough competition as some of the teams are coming from world club championship with greater experience than his club’s.” However, he believes that it will help his players to improve their level. “We haven’t fared well on the continental scene in the past, and those are the challenges we continue learn from. We want to prepare ourselves very early both tactically and in terms of fitness,” he said. The tournament, which brings together champion clubs from their respectively countries, left club divided into two groups, with the second group including Flowers (Benin), Montada (Morocco), FAP (Cameroon), Avenir Rail (Congo), Kirkos (Ethiopia) and Manga DFIP (Gabon).
