By ELIAS  CHIPEPO – In
Glasgow, Scotland
JUDOKA Boas Munyonga saved Zambia the shame of not winning a medal at three successive Commonwealth Games after winning the country her first silverware in 12 years that came via a bronze on Friday night.
Munyonga’s medal was also the first for Zambian judo since 1954.
With Zambia having last won medals during the 2002 Commonwealth Games, Sports Minister Chishimba Kambwili’s prophecy of not foreseeing Zambia winning a medal at the Glasgow Games was slowly but surely becoming a reality before the exploits of Munyonga.
Munyonga, the only remaining judoka after his three colleagues got eliminated, put up a brave fight to defeat Gagnon Krieber of Canada in the bronze final.
He started his campaign for gold and silver on a winning note defeating Josateki Naulu of Fiji but lost his quarter-final match to Englishman Livesey Owen, who eventually won gold, to drop into the bronze category where he beat Messi Louis of Cameroun to set up a final with Krieber.
“I have dedicated this medal to my two-week old daughter, Ruth, but I would have loved to win a gold medal. It was a tough competition and I just have to continue working hard and ensure I win more medals,” he said in an interview shortly after his triumph.
Munyonga said the facilities at the Olympic Youth Development Centre (OYDC) played a big role in ensuring that the judokas were ready for the tournament and was happy a medal has been won from his group.
Coach Francis Linosi, who was barred from sitting on the ringside, said he was happy that an experienced judoka like Munyonga managed to win a medal.
Linosi expressed displeasure at the judo officials decision to bar him from being with his judoka after swapping Munyonga’s attire colour from blue to white, saying the decision to change attire was arrived at after complaints from the same officials that the initial judogi was small and thus needed to change.
He said he was now banking on the likes of Munyonga, Mathews Punza and Sandra Sandu to win Zambia medals at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.
Linosi said Zambia will be sending a team to Russia to compete in the World Championship set for August 20.
“This is great! I am happy that we have managed to win a medal despite the frustrations these people (officials) had put us through. Boas has done us proud and I would want to see him and the other judokas continue winning us medals.
I feel this competition provided a good platform for Abigail Chindele and Mathews Kalunga as we continue moulding them for the 2020 (Olympic) Games,” he said.
Meanwhile, as Zambians were celebrating winning a first medal at the Games, hopes of adding more silverware were shattered in boxing when hopeful and knock out specialist Mbachi Kaonga got a taste of his own medicine as he left the ring nursing a deep cut down on his left eye after losing on a technical knockout.
Kaonga started his welterweight contest on a fast note hoping to knock out Heild Carl of Bahamas but was disadvantaged as his opponent was slightly taller than him making it difficult to sneak in that killer punch and in the end exposed himself.
After managing to contend Carl in the first round, Kaonga unleashed some good punches but equally received some good beatings but the second round proved too hard for the Zambian who looked desperate to land a knockout in a bid to win the match having realised his was trailing his opponent on points.
But Kaonga sustained the fight with 21 seconds remaining on the clock and referee stopped the fight to enable the Zambian boxer receive medical attention before calling off the fight in favour of Carl.
Coach Kennedy Kanyanta saw two of his five boxers eliminated on day one of the competition after Christopher Katanga got beaten by Dalton Ruairi from the Northern Ireland Republic.
Despite putting up a good fight, Katanga lost his match on point decision scoring 30-27, 30-27 and 29-28 from the three judges.
Kanyanta will now be banking on light welterweight Charles Lumbwe, middleweight Ben Muziyo and light flyweight Bwalya Lumbwe for redemption.
Charles and Muziyo were in action last night against Bernado Marrime of Mozambique with Muziyo fighting Michael Gardner of Jamaica while Bwalya, who was in bye in the preliminary round, gets into the ring tomorrow to fight Fazil Kaggwa of Uganda.