•ZAMBIA’S top junior golfer, Peter Munyinya putting on the 18th during the final round of the 2014 All Africa Junior Challenge at Chainama Hills Golf Club in Lusaka yesterday. Picture by JEAN MANDELA

By SHAMAOMA MUSONDA –

ZAMBIA yesterday struck bronze again at the All-Africa Junior Golf Championships in Lusaka after finishing third as defending champions South Africa claimed the 16th consecutive victory in the continent’s most prestigious junior golf event.
Despite failing to capture the continental crown on home soil, Zambia managed to deliver a powerful message by winning a second consecutive bronze, having also finished third for the first time last year in Mauritius.
Zambia finished the four-day competition with an accumulated gross score of 923, 50 shots adrift winners South Africa and 15 behind second-placed Zimbabwe.
The Reunion Islands, hosts of next year’s tournament, were in fourth and eight shots off Zambia with 931 points.
However, what was hurting about finishing third was that Zambia missed out on making a debut at the Toyota World Youth Golf Championship set for Japan in June which is a preserve of Africa’s top two countries.
The Zambian team led by Peter Munyinya were hoping to better last year’s third place finish but saw their mission undone on the second day when they scored a poor 238 and even after improving on the third day, the damage was too much to be repaired.
Coach Patrick Mwendapole tried hard to hide his disappointment. He said he was happy with third position which took Zambia to the podium for only the second time in history but his face could tell how close the hosts were from making Japan.
Zambia yesterday brought home another poor score of 237, which was the sixth best score of the day and explains the country’s further drop off South Africa to 50 shots when on Day Two, they were just two strokes behind the champions.
Team captain Peter Munyinya, who will not be eligible next year, carded a four-over-par 76 while Kelvin Chibuye posted 80 with his Ndola club mate Gabriel Chibale managing 81 while Charles Shalubobya’s 85 was a non-counting score.
“Today’s scores were just as poor as the second day and that is where we are losing it,” Zambia Junior Golf Association director, Aloysius Phiri said.
On Day One, Zambia scored an impressive 222, just two off South Africa and then the juniors lost their game on second day when they carded 238 before improving to 226 on Day Three.
While Zambia was posting 238, Zimbabwe fired 222 to move into second while South Africa were consistent with a score 223.
“Inconsistency is what is killing us. If we remained consistent on Day Two and Day Four, we could be competing for the title with South Africa but again, that is a story for another day, we have a lot to do to even come close to them,”     Mwendapole said.
Zambia will however be happy that this year the local juniors finished on 923 compared to 971 at the 2013 event.
South African team manager, Kevin Stone, said the team was delighted to uphold South Africa’s proud history in the event.