By GWEN CHIPASULA –
THE Zambia Amateur Athletics Association (ZAAA) is this Saturday scheduled to hold the All Comers Meet at the Olympic Youth Development Centre (OYDC) in Lusaka.
ZAAA communications manager Davis Mung’ambata said in an interview that the association would use the one day tournament to assess athletes to be included in the funnel and carding system as they prepare for major events this year.
Mung’ambata said the tournament was open to all the clubs affiliated to the association and to the general public, adding that the event will also serve as start of the 2016 activities the association will be having this year.
He said the association’s aim is to look for other potential runners to join ZAAA especially that most talent identification occured during such events.
“We want people to challenge our athletes, so we are calling on all those who can run to come and join us because we need more athletes.
And this will also be used to prepare our athletes for the year,” he said.
Meanwhile, ZAAA president Elias Mpondela described the year 2015 as successful.
Mpondela said this was because ZAAA managed to deliver in almost every tournament they participated and that the development was encouraging to even do more this year.
He expressed happiness with the performance of athletes who participated in various tournaments like the All Africa Games (AAG) in Congo Brazzaville where Kabange Mupopo won gold in 400m.
Mpondela further said he was happy that Mupopo and Sydney Siame took part in the World Champions in Beijing, China.