By GRACE CHAILE  –

AFRICA Zone Six Karate president, Million Musumbika has said this year’s regional championship which starts in Lusaka today has recorded the highest turnout.
Speaking in an interview yesterday during the weigh-in ceremony at Palmwood Lodge ahead of the two-day event at Mulungushi International Conference Centre in Lusaka, Musumbika said it was the first time that as many as eight countries took taking part in this regional event.
“The high turnout of countries is an indicator that things are getting better in the region and guarantee stiff competition. In the past, we used to have just about five countries taking part. This is a sign that karate in the region is developing,” he said.
Musumbika, from Botswana, said it was also the first time the Zone Six was having an expert from the World Karate Federation to facilitate the coaches and referees training workshop.
“This year’s event has scored another milestone because for the first time, we have the general secretary of the World Karate Federation referee’s commission, Javier Escakalante to facilitate the workshop.
“It is a great development and we intend with this tradition of inviting experts to enhance the development of karate in the region,” he said.
Musumbika said the Zone Six committee was intending to implement a plan in which the hosting countries for the next four years would be known.
The plan, the Zone Six chief believes, will enable the hosting countries have enough time to prepare adequately for the event.
He commended the local organising committee for the job done in ensuring the hosting of the event.
The Zambia Martial Arts Federation (ZAMF) president Simba Mangaba said the Sports Council of Zambia (SCZ) has given K40, 000 to the federation to help reduce the budget deficit to K226,000.
“The total budget was K770, 000 and had managed to raise K544,000 after SCZ gave us K40,000. I would like to commend Government through SCZ for enabling us host this event,” he said.
He said the national team was ready and confident of scooping half of the 420 medals up for grabs.
SCZ chairperson Mwamba Kalenga encouraged the participating teams to be disciplined and work hard if they were to achieve their targets.