By MOSES CHIMFWEMBE –

BADMINTON Zambia (BZ) has secured a K30, 000 sponsorship deal from the Bank of China (BOC) to host the youth national tournament billed for September 20 and 21.
This deal comes barely a week after the Chinese Bank offered to foot the air-ticket costs for the five-member team that would be trekking to Uganda for the 2014 Badminton Confederation of Africa (BCA) Under-15 Championship slated for August 25 to 31 in Kampala.
BZ general secretary Kingsley Mulenga, who confirmed the development in an interview yesterday, said the BOC’s support to the sport was unprecedented and that the tournament would be called Bank of China-Youth tournament.
“We are glad to have the Bank of China come on board in providing their financial support to the association. The development is unprecedented and if all corporate entities would emulate the gesture shown by the Chinese bank, the level of sports in the country would go greatly improve,” he said.
He said BZ had already received the money towards the successful hosting of the youth tournament and commend the Bank for the gesture shown.
Mulenga said the tournament would draw participants from schools, colleges and universities across the country as well as various clubs adding that it would also be used as warm up leading to the Zambia International and the Zone Six tournaments in November.
“This support has come at a right time especially that we have a packed schedule on our calendar with the Zone Six tournament which we will host as well as the Zambia International. We would like to urge more corporate companies to come on board and support us,” he said.