By YVONNE SAKALA –

In Lusaka Showgrounds
ZAMBIA Sugar plc yesterday defended the MultiChoice sponsored Zambia Amateur Athletics Association (ZAAA) 2016 Inter Company Relay (ICR) trophy, taking the title for the third year running.
The Mazabuka based sugar producing company reigned supreme over other companies that took part in the 18th edition that ZAAA uses to promote good health and raise money for Zambian athletics.
In the Arms of Government category, the Office of the President took first place and was closely followed by National Assembly with Cabinet Office coming out third.
Standard Chartered Bank’s Team A were the winners of the Commercial Banks category with Barclays Bank taking second position as the Standard Chartered Bank Team B landing third slot.
In the Financial Sector category, the top trophy went to Zambia National Building Society while Unity Finance was second with Madison Financial Services coming out third.
The Ministry of General Education were crowned winners in the male section of the Government Ministries category, leaving Ministry of Sport in second with the third position going to the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock.
Hotel InterContinental scooped the Hospitality award while Mulungushi International Conference Centre was the runner-up.
Zesco dominated the Energy sector category where the two teams they entered took first and second positions as Copperbelt Energy Company (CEC) came out third with Zambia National Service (ZNS) scoping the Defence and Security category.
First National Bank (FNB) came out winners in Tug-of-War and added the best dressed team award to their collection from this year’s competition.
Speaking at the awards ceremony, First Lady Esther Lungu said the ICR had grown and continued to promote physical activities for good health since its inception and commended the association for the initiative.
Esther took part in the 100m Chief Executive Officer’s dash and came out third and also participated in the five kilometres Health Walk.
She said it was gratifying that the ICR had added onto its platform the testing and screening of various non-communicable diseases breast and cervical cancer, cardiovascular diabetes and hypertension.
“You may wish to know I have participated in the five kilometre walk of this event before and I would like to confirm that this event brings a lot of people together.
“We see the corporate leaders and executives, civil society and Government leaders come together on this day for fun in socially friendly atmosphere, we all need to have happy moments,” The First Lady said.
MultiChoice Zambia operations manager Recha Kabwe said the company strongly believes that wellness was critical to the development of the nation and it was more reason why the company supports the concept of ICR.
“For us, sponsorship of ICR is one way of giving back to our customers who have been instrumental in the growth of our business in the more than 20 years we have been operating in Zambia,” Kabwe said.
ZAAA president Elias Mpondela thanked the sponsors for making the event a reality and success adding that without their support, the association would not have managed to stage the event.