By MOSES CHIMFWEMBE –
ZAMBIA Boxing Federation (ZBF) president Thomas Chileshe has said the decision not to send pugilists to South Africa for the 2015 Africa Zone Five Boxing Championship is purely tactical.
The Zone Five tournament that started yesterday and ends tomorrow is being used by participating countries to prepare for the 2015 All Africa Games (AAG) slated for Congo Brazzaville in September.

. Kanyanta

However, Chileshe’s explanation contradicts with national coach Kennedy Kanyanta, who last week said he was frustrated at the lack of activity on boxers’ preparations for the AAG and that the Zone Five tournament was critical in assessing the pugilists.
But Chileshe said the federation does not want to expose the boxers to uncompetitive fights.
He said his federation has put in place strategies that will ensure the pugilists face tougher tests ahead of the Games that will also act as qualifiers for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.
“We have not gone to South Africa for the Zone five championships and this is not because we failed to raise money but it is part of our strategies. We have been fighting in the sub region for some time and we know how boxers fight, so we want to try boxer from other regions as well,” Chileshe said.
He said ZBF was pondering on organising some fights with boxers from East, North and West Africa whom Zambian were not accustomed to fighting.
The boxing chief said with such strategies in place, Zambia was targeting to qualify at least five boxers to the Olympic Games next year.
“Engaging people we have never fought before will work for us well from the technical point of view and we are very serious about it,” he said.
Chileshe has warned that selection of boxers into the national will be done on merit and not past glory.
He said the 2015 Charm Shuffle Chiteule memorial and the national tourism tournaments will act as trials for the final seven-man team that will represent Zambia at the AAG.