By SANDRA MWILA –
THE Zambia Boxing Federation (ZBF) will this year embark on a massive fundraising drive aimed at raising money to enable it reduce dependency on government resources.
ZBF president Thomas Chileshe said in an interview yesterday that his federation intends to introduce what it is calling a ‘boxing marketing arm’ aimed at raising funds and avoid complete dependency on government.
Chileshe said that the boxers last year missed out on a number of international tournaments because of lack of resources.
He said the federation has had difficulties implementing some of its programmes because of relying too much on government resources.
He said ZBF has already selected a board that will run the boxing marketing arm and that it would be unveiled on February 7.
“Last year we failed to send our boxers to some international tournaments because of lack of resources but come next year, we want that trend to be a thing of the past and that’s the reason why we will have come up with a boxing marketing arm that will help facilitate our fundraising programmes,” he said.
He said ZBF will this year work tirelessly to ensure that athletes participate in all high profiled international tournaments to enable them gain exposure and will accelerate its talent identification programme.
Chileshe said there was need for Zambia to send to a larger contingent of boxers to the Congo Brazzaville 2015 All Africa Games to stand a good chance of winning more medals and qualify for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.
Meanwhile, Chileshe said despite his federation having financial hiccups in the year ending, he was proud that the boxers managed to mint medals at their various tournaments.
Chileshe said 2014 started on a rough note but ended in success after a good performance of boxers at the Africa Union Sports Commission (AUSC) Region Five Games as well as the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games where Ben Muziyo won bronze.