. Kanyanta
By MOSES CHIMFWEMBE –
COACH Kennedy Kanyanta has expressed worry over the delay to have boxer Ben Muziyo sent for high-level training in Kazakhstan ahead of the Rio 2016 Olympics qualifiers billed for March next year.
Muziyo was offered a two-year scholarship in Kazakhstan by the International Boxing Federation (AIBA) based on his performance at the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games that saw him win a bronze medal.
However, the boxer, who was scheduled to leave for Kazakhstan in July, is still in the country and has missed four months of training.
Kanyanta said in an interview yesterday that he was not at ease to see Muziyo still in the country and that there was communication from the National Olympic Committee (NOC), who are supposed to facilitate the travel arrangements.
“We were hoping that Ben (Muziyo) would be at the high performance centre in Kazakhstan but I am shocked that the delay still keeps going on and I don’t know when he is likely to leave.
“It is a double tragedy for me as coach because even the other boxers here are still not in camp to kick-start preparations for the Olympic qualifiers,” Kanyanta said.
He said Muziyo was an important prospect in Zambia’s quest to push for Olympic qualification having been the only boxer to bag a bronze medal at the 11th edition of the All-Africa Games staged in Congo Brazzaville in September.
“Muziyo has been an important member of our team and looking at the international outings that we have had, he has always emerged top of others and if he was to travel to Kazakhstan, that will be an advantage to us,” he said.
Kanyanta said with the Zambia Boxing Federation (ZBF) target of qualifying at least three boxers to the Olympic Games next year, he was banking on Muziyo to pull the strings at next year’s qualifiers in Cameroun.
“For now, we are counting on Muziyo to deliver Olympic qualification for us but we have potential in some of the youngsters, who are showing zeal and appetite to win,” he said.
Efforts to get a comment from the NOC proved futile as mobile phones for president Miriam Moyo and general secretary Hazel Kennedy were out of reach.
