By MWANGALA LISELI –
THE Zambia Judo Association (ZJA) has failed to send judokas to take part in the Gabon Senior African Championship which acts as one of the qualifiers to the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.
ZJA vice-secretary Mabvuto Ng’uni said the association failed to raise K85, 000 to send Mathews Punza and Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games bronze medallist, Boas Munyonga to Gabon.
The two judokas were last month sent to Uzbekistan for a high level training in readiness of the Olympic Games under the auspices of the National Olympic Committee (NOC).
Ng’uni said it was disappointing because even after writing to the NOC over assistance in raising the funds, it had not responded.
“We were supposed to have left for Gabon but we will not because we have not managed to raise the K85, 000. We are disappointed because we thought the NOC would help us after they sent our two judokas to Uzbekistan but even after writing to them, they have not responded,” he said.
Ng’uni said it was a shame and pointless to have sent the judokas abroad for training if they could not be sent for the tournament that starts today.
