• VISITING Chinese vice-president Li Yuanchao (centre) and Youth and Sports Minister Chishimba Kambwili (with red tie) during the tour of the National Heroes Stadium in Lusaka on Thursday. Picture by CHUSA SICHONE.

By MOSES CHIMFWEMBE and SANDRA MWILA –

GOVERNMENT has demanded medals from the Zambian contingent going for the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games next month in Scotland.
Sports Minister Chishimba Kambwili said in an interview that there was no reason for failure as the Zambian team had been preparing for the Games for a long time and that it was time for positive results.
Zambia will be represented at the Games that start from July 23 to August 4 in boxing, badminton, swimming, athletics and judo, among others, with Kambwili saying time was ripe for the Zambians to excel at the world stage.
“As a ministry, we take it that all the athletes are adequately prepared for the Commonwealth Games because we have provided the necessary support required and I think this time around, we have to mint medals.
“Time is ripe for Zambia to shine at the Commonwealth stage and failure is not welcome under my reign. So all athletes must remain focused and compete favourably without fear or intimidation but for now, I expect all the teams to be doing final touches in their preparations,” he said.
Team Zambia is scheduled to go into pre-games camping in Glasgow three weeks before the Games starts.
Meanwhile, the Zambia Boxing Federation (ZBF) is scouting for K16, 000 to send boxers for an international tournament in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to be used as part of the preparations for the Commonwealth Games.
ZBF president Thomas Chileshe said in an interview that the federation was still trying to see if money could be raised so that the boxers can get some international fights before going for the Commonwealth Games next month.
Chileshe expressed sadness that the boxers have not had the necessary exposure of fighting in some international tournaments owing to limited resources and expressed hope that the boxers will not be discouraged.
“We are not even sure if the boxers will travel to Congo because securing funds has been a problem. This is why I have told the boxers not to solely depend on international tournaments to get the needed exposure but just concentrate on preparing locally because we always get a negative response when we request for money,” Chileshe said.
Chileshe also expressed happiness that the National Olympic Committee (NOC) has agreed to improve the training conditions of the boxers after ZBF made a request.