By GRACE CHAILE –

THE Zambia men’s volleyball team qualified to the semi-finals of the 17th edition of the Confederation of University and College Sports Associations (CUCSA) Zone Six Games after beating Lesotho.
Zambian teams also continued with good performances in chess, basketball with the women team picking up a 2-1 win over Namibia while athletics got underway at the Olympic Youth Development Centre (OYDC) yesterday and was expected to culminate into a medal presentation ceremony late in the night.

But it was a bad day for men’s football team who were eliminated in the group stage after losing their opening two matches as even a 3-1 win over South Africa could do nothing to keep them in the competition.

In volleyball, Zambia beat Lesotho 3-0 on Tuesday night to remain on course to win Zambia a medal after beating their opponents 25-14, 26-24 and 25-16 to finish tops in Group B with six points.
Defending champions Namibia surprisingly failed to qualify to the semi finals after losing 3-0 to Zimbabwe, who yesterday scheduled to play Botswana with the loser playing Zambia in the semi-finals today.
The Zambian men’s chess team beat Botswana 4-0 before adding Malawi to their list of casualties with a 3-1 win but unfortunately their good run came to an end after losing 2.5-1.5 to Zimbabwe while the women’s team beat Malawi 4-0 but lost 2 ½ – 1 ½ to Zimbabwe.
The Zambian men’s team was by end of Day Two leading the group on six points, same as Zimbabwe, who have played a game less, Malawi and Botswana are on three points each while Angola with only two players competing have zero.
Zimbabwe is leading the women’s group with six points with Zambia on 3.5 points followed by Botswana on three while Malawi are without a point.
At the National Sports Development Centre (NASDEC), Zambia continued to dominate the event with the men’s team thrashing South Africa 68-38 while the women beat Zimbabwe 59-50.
The men and women teams were last evening scheduled to play Zimbabwe.
In football, the Zambian women team beat Namibia 2-1 in a second game played at OYDC but the men’s hopes of winning a medal were shattered despite beating South Africa 3-1 at Barclays Sports Complex.
The Zambian side had earlier lost their first two games with the same 4-3 margin to Botswana and Swaziland. South Africa play their last group stage game today against Swaziland who lost to Botswana 3-2 yesterday.
Botswana, who have already qualified for the semi-finals, tops the standing on six points with South Africa, Swaziland and Zambia on three points but separated by goal difference.
Meanwhile, Federation of African University Sports (FASU) president Malumbeti Lalete said he was impressed and excited with Zambia’s ability to host the CUCSA games.
“This is the best ever organised CUCSA event and I am impressed with the level of organisation and the brilliant official opening. The South African delegation is happy and my appeal is for Zambia to host the 2017 Federation of Africa University (FASU) Games,” he said.