By GODFREY DUBE –
MIDLANDS pugilists yesterday dominated the 2016 Agriculture and Commercial Show boxing tournament grabbing seven bouts as the Ministry of Sports issued a strong warning to sportsmen and women against doping.
The midlands boxers got the better of the Copperbelt fighters who managed to win three fights.
Patrick Chinyemba of Exodus led the Lusaka boxers in grabbing victories after claiming a unanimous point decision win after defeating Musa Banda of the Copperbelt in the bantamweight fight.
Oriental Queries boxer Davy Mwale pounded Gerald Mundawami of Youth Empowerment of Lusaka in the light flyweight category to also win on unanimous point decision.
Chishimbe Simoya from Lusaka beat Timothy Mofya from the Copperbelt to advance on unanimous point decision in another light flyweight.
Sylvester Sampa of Lusaka beat Kelvin Hachilala of Southern Province on unanimous point decision while Aaron Kalumbwa of Copperbelt beat Nyambe Sianga of Southern Province on split point decision in the bantamweight category.
Andrew Chilata of Exodus lost to an experienced Bwalya Lumbwe of Zambia National Service (ZNA) Lusaka in a tight contested bolt in the light flyweight category to win via split point decision.
But that decision saw confusion erupt as some coaches accused the judges of been biased and called for a five minutes break before the next bouts could continue.
Zambia Under-20 team coach John Chibuta expressed disappointment with the way some judges awarded points to some boxers who were not impressive.
Chibuta said judges were bias in the way they awarded points to some boxers stating that they were making it difficult for the coaches to select boxers for the national team on merit.
“Some judges are being biased in the way they are awarding points to some boxers. Let’s learn to award points to boxer that are the best according to the fight and not regions, it is making our job as coaches difficult to select boxers for the national team. Let MABA sort its problems somewhere else and not during the tournaments,” he said.
Meanwhile, Ministry of Sports acting director and National Anti-Doping Desk Officer Raphael Mulenga said the ministry in conjunction with the Drug
Enforcement Commission (DEC) and the Ministry of Health launched a camping against doping among sportsmen and women.
Mulenga said this was important as it will make sportsmen and women aware of the dangers of doping as shown by what happened to Russia.