By SANDRA MWILA –
THE Uzbekistan duo of Boas Munyonga and Mathews Mpunza will lead Zambia’s hunt for medals at the Africa Open Judo Championship slated for January 15 to 18 in Tunisia.
Others making the trip for the Africa Open Championship that acts as one of the qualifiers for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games will be Abigail Chindile and Micheal Mwabi.
Zambia Judo Association (ZJA) president Alfred Foloko said in an interview that the judokas will leave for Tunisia a day before the competition starts.
Foloko urged the quartet to put in their best during the tournament so that they earn the needed points to edge closer to qualifying to the Olympic Games in Brazil.
Foloko said the National Olympic Committee (NOC) and cooperating partners had helped to sponsor the four to the tournament.
He added that 2016 would be a busy year for the judokas as they would be taking part in the Africa Championship slated for Morocco on March 16, and the Commonwealth Games in April.
There will be another Africa Open Championship in Tunisia.
Foloko said prospects of the quartet qualifying to the Rio Olympics were high especially that they had been in camp for a year.
“The athletes might have performed badly at the All Africa Games in Congo Brazzaville, but I am still optimistic they will qualify to the Olympics,” he said.
Meanwhile, Foloko said the 2015 season was fair as the judokas managed to reap 19 medals at the regional championship held in Swaziland.