By MOSES CHIMFWEMBE –
AFTER successfully hosting the Zambia Closed Championship in Ndola last weekend, tennis thrills today move to Lusaka where the Zambia Tennis Association (ZTA) is hosting the fundraising tournament at Lusaka Club.
This tournament, that will see members of Diplomatic missions and the Zambian community go head to head for the top spot, has been organised to raise to raise the US$14, 000 (about K75, 000) ZTA debt owed to the International Tennis Federation (ITF).
ZTA president Francis Musonda said in an interview yesterday that the association was hoping to pay off the debt that had been accrued since 2009.
Musonda said failure to pay off the debt would see the ZTA not holding the prestigious Zambia Open Championship as the ITF regulations bar defaulting affiliates from holding international tournaments.
“We are very hopeful that this tournament will help us raise enough funds to clear the debt. We have also written to the business community and the ZTA life members so that together we can sort out this problem.
So the participation fee has been pegged at K200 per individual and we are expecting about 100 players to take part in the tournament,” he said.
Musonda, however, disclosed that the ITF had given Zambia a payment plan that will see the association settle the debt in instalments.
“I am happy to state that we have been given a payment plan and I think we will be looking forward to fulfil that obligation. I would like also stress that definitely, we will be staging the Zambia Open because we are confident that we will pay something to the ITF,” he added.
Top seed Edgar Kazembe will be eyeing to emerge victorious having bagged the Zambia Closed Championship with a hard-fought victory over second seed Nkumbu Chonya last Monday.
Others expected to light up the tournament are female top seed MaggieMutale of Green Buffaloes and Hope Kanyama from the Olympic Youth Development Centre (OYDC) among others.