By ADRIAN MWANZA –

. MOYO

NATIONAL Olympics Committee (NOC) president Miriam Moyo says it will be disappointing if athletes fail to qualify for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games when stakeholders are willing to fund the trip to the games.
Moyo, who commended Kagem Mines for donating US$30,000 towards Zambia’s outing to the Olympics Games, said the athletes should strive at qualifying for the Games.
She urged the athletes to work hard and book places at the Games as the logistics were taken care of by the mining company.
“Our sportsmen and women should strive to qualify because they have no excuse because all the logistics have been taken care of. Imagine, a stakeholder offers to cover all the expenses that would be incurred by the Zambian sportsmen and women and only for a few to qualify. It would be very demoralising,” she said.
Moyo said Kagem was the first organisation to sponsor an entire contingent to the Olympics and called on other stakeholders to follow suit. She said Government alone could not handle the expenses and needed to have stakeholders to help with logistics.
“NOC is humbled by Kagem who have lifted the burden off Government’s shoulders with this US$30,000 sponsorship. I hope this positive relationship with Kagem will continue, and if possible, they will come on board during the Tokyo 2020 Games,” she said.
Kagem will also dress the entire Zambian contingent going to Olympic Games to be held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
The mining firm has also promised to cover the expenses of Government officials who will accompany the Zambian team to Brazil.