By GRACE CHAILE –

SEVENTEEN-year-old Choolwe Hamalambo is among the eight junior players that have been picked to represent Zambia at the 2014 Confederation of Southern Africa Table Tennis Associations (CSATTA) Zone Six tournament that starts in Lusaka next week.

Hamalambo, from Ping Pong Stars, dominated the National Junior Championships last year to earn a spot in the men’s team that boasts of experienced players such as Friday Ng’andu, Noel Kasanda, Taylor Fundulu and Martin Chewe, who have represented Zambia at various international competitions.

Ng’andu and Chewe represented Zambia at the World Championships in 2012 while Kasanda, Isaac Banda and Lloyd Mubanga were at the Maputo 2012 All Africa Games.

The 11-member men’s squad has Ng’andu, Mubanga, George Mulanda and Chewe from NASDEC, Kasanda, Kapula, Simasiku Kalaluka, banda and Timothy Nkhata from Napsa, Fundulu of Green Buffaloes and Hamalambo.

The women team has seen seven junior players breaking into the side having performed well during the National Junior Championships last year. These are Latifa Nalavwe and Mary Mambwe from Ping Pong Stars, Mubanga Kunda of Olymp Africa, Mercy Vuttah, Ruth Zulu, Shila Mwanza and Ruth Mutailoni all coming from Ng’ombe PTA School.

They join the experienced three senior players in Getrude Phiri, Kate Phiri and Lucia Mwale, all from NASDEC who also represented Zambia at the Zone Six tournament held in South Africa in 2009, while Annita Chibombe, also from NASDEC, will be making her senior team debut.

Zambia Table Tennis Association (ZTTA) patron Haroon Ghumra said in a statement released in Lusaka yesterday that the players were picked after a final training session held at the Olympic Youth Development Centre (OYDC) at the weekend.

Ghumra, who is also tournament public relations officer, said players were picked based on their performance in the past year during which 11 competitions were held by the ZTTA including results from the weekly events held since October.

He said the coaching team of Li Gongming and Zhang Guodong including ZTTA co-ordinator Boyd Kabinda also looked at point accumulated by players in the monthly ZTTA ranking system to come up with a final team.

On the budget, Ghumra said the association was still scouting for K190,000 to successfully host the event that will run from January 31 to February 2 at the OYDC in Lusaka and has attracted six countries.

Angola, Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Zambia, who will field two teams by virtue of been hosts, have already confirmed participation.