THE Local Organising Committee (LOC) of the 2012 Supreme Council for Sport in Africa (SCSA) has said preparations for Zambia to host the Under 20 youth games scheduled for December in Lusaka are on course and will be finalised in record time.
LOC chief executive officer Chalimba Phiri said in an interview after the launch of the corporate partners of the Zone Six Games at the new Government complex in Lusaka on Tuesday evening that the team was more than ready to host the event.
“We are ready to host these games. Even if we were called to say the games have to be hosted today we can do that. We are on course let just the games begin,” Phiri said.
Phiri, who is the immediate past KCM-FAZ Premier Division Power Dynamos club chairperson, said Zambia signed to host the Games, and that there was no way the organising committee would fail to host the Games especially with the tag as African football champions.
He said the infrastructure was already in place and that it only needed final touches to reach highly competitive international standards for the games scheduled to start on December 4-17.
Phiri, however, said the swimming pool which was initially planned for the National Sports Development Center (NASDEC) would be built at the Olympic Youth Development Center (OYDC), but could not disclose when the construction would start.
He said Nkoloma Stadium would host the opening and closing ceremonies of the Games adding that the committee had also started works at the stadium for two grand stands.
Phiri said other facilities that needed final touches were Sunset Stadium that would be used for women football and the University of Zambia which will be used as the games village for the visiting teams.
Speaking earlier Director of Sports Bernard Nakachinda, said hosting the Under 20 youth games would not only market Zambia, but would also contribute to economic development.
Nakachinda said the Ministry of Sport realised that organising and hosting the event needed a lot of support from cooperating partners, hence the need for stakeholders to come on board and help stage the event.

AFTER failing to get satisfaction from accosting Tunisian referee Med Kordi on the new Levy Mwanawasa Stadium pitch in Ndola at the weekend, the vanquished Ghana’s Black Stars took their frustrations to their dressing room.

The Ghanaians trashed the room with all sorts of garbage, leaving the place a total mess to sum up their anger of losing twice to the Chipolopolo in four months.

In February this year, Zambia knocked Ghana in the semi-finals of the African Cup of Nations.

Despite the stadium staff providing litter bins in the dressing rooms, the Ghanaian players opted to flood the floor with water, toilet tissues and banana peels.

A bathing tower from Moba Hotel in Kitwe where the Black Stars were lodging was also found dumped behind the dressing room lockers.

The mess was discovered by stadium staff after the Ghanaians had left for Kitwe following the 0-1 loss._”It’s unbelievable that the (Ghanaian) players whom we thought were civilised could leave such a mess in the dressing room.

We expected them to behave well despite losing here. How can they just throw things around like that,” a disappointed worker at the stadium, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said.

Earlier, after the final whistle, the Ghanaian players had vented their anger on Kordi, whom they accused of poor officiating, and the police officers had a torrid time before calm returned on the pitch.

However, the Ghanaians claimed their midfielder Derek Boateng and unused striker Benjamin Acheampong were punched by Zambia security personnel in a post-match melee.

The Ghana Football Association (GFA), who have threatened to report the incident to the Confederation of African Football, also complained that their officials were not allowed entry into the VIP lounge and made to sit amidst Zambian fans.

And Sports Minister Chishimba Kambwili said it was unfortunate that the Ghanaians were blaming referee Kordi for the 1-0 defeat, the goal scored by skipper Christopher Katongo to get Zambia’s campaign back on track.

Kambwili, however, counselled Ghana officials and players in an interview after the thrilling Group D match watched by a capacity crowd saying the Black Stars should learn to concede defeat and give credit where it is due instead of giving scapegoats.

“It’s unfortunate that the Ghanaians have kind of protested against the referee when you all saw that the referee was fair. There is no mistake that the referee made except that he handled the game professionally.

“So, they must just accept that they have lost, and when you lose you accept that you have lost without putting blame on anybody,” Kambwili said.

The minister said the Chipolopolo’s victory had vindicated his earlier statement made after a shock 2-0 defeat to Sudan in Omdurman when he said that the African champions would bounce back against Ghana.

“I told the whole world when I was interviewed last week that losing the first game was not the end of the world. And true to our word, we are African champions and we will continue to be African champions, we cannot be scared of any team.

“And usually a bad beginning makes a very good ending. So you can see that Zambia’s style of play and the level of play is extremely impressive and that the sky is the limit for the Zambia national soccer team,” he said

ZAMBIA’S Mohammed Essa yesterday finished fourth in the gruelling KCB Safari Rally in Nairobi to open up a runaway 39-point lead in the eight-legged FIA African Rally Championship (ARC) that has reached the halfway mark.

The 22-year-old Essa, driving a Madison/Puma Energy Subaru Impreza N12B grabbed 12 African championship contest points from the Safari Rally, the same number of points he amassed at the Sasol Rally South Africa, to bring his season tally to 64 points.

The Greg Stead co-driven Essa scored maximum 25 points for winning the Puma Energy Zambia International Rally last month having started the season with 16 points for claiming third position in the Toyota Zimbabwe Challenge March.

According to KCB Safari Rally provisional results, Essa who started the final day in seventh position, stopped the clock fourth overall with a time of three hours 13 minutes four seconds giving him more grip on the summit of the African championship log.

According to Flatoutaction.com, Kenyan Carl Tundo and co-driver Tim Jessop won the Safari Rally for a fourth time following a fault less display in their Dalbit Petroleum sponsored Mitsubishi Evo 9.  sources- bolayathu

SUDAN yesterday took over sole leadership of Group D despite failing to replicate their form which won them the opening 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifier over Zambia, settling for a barren draw in Lesotho at the Setsoto Stadium in Maseru.

Despite the setback at Group D minnows, Lesotho, Sudan lead the group on four points, one better than Ghana and African champions, Zambia.

Ghana, who had battered the tiny Southern African kingdom 7-0, were humbled 0-1 by Zambia in Ndola on Saturday.

Ghana are second by virtue of having a healthier goal difference than the Chipolopolo while Lesotho are bottom with just point.

Prior to this match the Lesotho Football Association had offered their players more than R5,000 (about K3.2 million) each as an incentive to beat the Sudanese.

And the Ghana Football Association (GFA) have said they will view the footage of their World Cup qualifier against Zambia to verify claims of assault by the police and that the Ghanaian officials were denied entry into the VIP section of the Levy Mwanawasa Stadium in Ndola.

During the post match Press conference, GFA communications director, Ibrahim Sannie-Daara threatened to drag Zambia to the Confederation of African Football over the alleged assault of Derek Boateng, Adam Kwarasey and Ben Acheampong.

The players were alleged to have been abused by police officers in the aftermath of the match.

The Ghanaians were also complaining of unsporting treatment of its officials by the Football Association of Zambia who were allegedly made to sit in the crowd.

Other results from yesterday’s matches, Mozambique 0-0 Zimbabwe, Ethiopia 2-0 Central African Republic, Tanzania 2-1 Gambia, Rwanda 1-1 Benin and DR.         source-bolayathu