By SANDRA MWILA –
MULUNGUSHI International Conference Centre (MICC) in Lusaka will be the venue for the 2014 Zone Six Karate Championships, which are heading to Zambia for the first time.
Zone Six Karate Union president Million Masambeki settled for MICC as host centre for the regional championships after viewing several venues.
Masambeki, who is based in Botswana said MICC was a better place to host the zonal event as it met the required international standards.
He said the standards of MICC would set a precedent to other countries that would be hoping to host the championships in future.
“After viewing NASDEC, OYDC which are also good venues it will be appropriate to pick on Mulugushi Conference Centre because of the space and the fact that we are hosting about 13 countries,” he said
He said the importance of Zone Six was to bring regional countries together and help in improving the standard of the sport on the international stage.
Sports Permanent Secretary, Agnes Musonda said the hosting of the Zone Six Karate Championships was yet another opportunity for Zambia to market itself on the African continent.
“As Government, you have our full support in hosting the games because we are aware that sport can be used to market our tourism potential and also be a medium of communication,” he said.
Zambia Martial Arts Federation president, Simba Mangaba said he was happy with the support they were getting from Government and was pleased that the director of sports Bessy Chelemu was part of their organising committee .
Mangaba said he was glad that the Zone Six  Karate Union had settled for Zambia after winning the bid to host the games against countries like South Africa that had good infrastructure.
And Zimbabwe Karate union president Joe Rugweete said he was looking forward to a successful Zone Six and see what Zambia had to offer to stage the event for the first time.