MATETE BEMOANS ZAMBIA’S POOR SHOWING AT ALL AFRICA GAMES
Written by Millennium on September 2, 2019
ZAMBIAN Olympian Samuel Matete has lamented over Zambia’s dismal performance at the on-going All Africa Games in Rabat, Morocco.
ZANIS Sports reports that the former 400 meters hurdle world champion said it’s regrettable and unacceptable that Zambia can mint four medals at the continent’s greatest athletics show piece.
The retired track and field athlete wondered how smaller nations could do better than Zambia which he said has vast potential of athletes.
He said sports administrators must account for the poor performance of the athletes at the All African Games and immediately correct the lapses to ensure that there is no repeat of such dismal performances.
The former world champion acknowledged that inadequate preparations and lack of technical advice contributed to athlete’s poor performance.
“We can do well, but we are not doing enough to prepare our athletes well
Matete stressed that there is need for Zambia to go back to the drawing board and get to the grassroots to ensure that the cream of Zambia’s talent is identified, trained properly and adequately and unleashed on the international stage to bring honors to the country.
The Olympian noted that the All Africa Games has exposed Zambian athletes’ ill preparations which must be remedied by holding more local competitions and international exposures to be competitive and improve performance.
“We have seen our athletes participating in Morocco, they have not done well, as a nation, we have to see better results than what we are seeing,” said Matete.
Matete paid glowing tribute to Zambia’s four medallists for flying the country’s flag high and expressed optimism that Gold medal hopeful Sydney Siame will come through with a medal in the men’s 200m events.
Zambia has so far bagged four medals in Swimming, Chess, Badminton and Boxing at the ongoing All Africa Games in Rabat, Morocco.
Featherweight boxer Evaristo Mulenga , Badminton ace Owen Mulenga, Swimmer Talik Paljk bagged bronze medals and National women Chess Champion Lorita Mwango minted a Silver medal.
Matete said the athletes need to be commended and supported as they continue in their sports development.
He said the Athletes at the All Africa Games who will be heading to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics have a daunting challenge of performing well and need to intensify preparations to stand a chance against the world’s best athletes.
