By GWEN CHIPASULA –
ZAMBIA under-17 head coach Oswald Mutapa says he will not tolerate any form of age cheating in his team as he prepares it for the this year’s regional COSAFA under-17 championships as well as the 2017 Africa under-17 championships qualifiers.
To ensure he is dealing with players with the right age, Mutapa is today and tomorrow taking his charges for Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scanning at Fairview Hospital in Lusaka.
The regional COSAFA tournament is set for Mauritius next week on July 22. Mutapa said in an interview after the teams’ morning training session yesterday that he is taking the age hunt serious as this will lead to the setting up of a good foundation for the future of Zambian football.
“This is where it all starts from, so to avoid problems and confusion over the players’ ages in the future, it is best that we take this matter seriously and we are doing MRI on the boys we have here in camp,” he said.
Mutapa also added that he will only select his final team after the MRI has been conducted to see which player is eligible for both COSAFA and 2017 Africa Cup qualifiers.
The coach also confirmed that the boys were all in good shape and ready for the COSAFA tournament as well as the continental qualifiers.
“Everyone is fine, once we conduct MRI  on the players, we will be all in order because we shall know exactly which players to move with and how to handle training,” he said.
The team which has been training at the Olympic Youth Development Centre (OYDC)  is scheduled to leave for Mauritius on July 20, for the COSAFA tournament.