By MICHAEL MIYOBA
CUBS Soccer Academy Director Moses Banda has hailed teams which competed in the inaugural Zambezi Cup which featured players between the ages 11 and 17 for making the tournament a success.
Banda said the tournament which featured four teams and one team from the Copperbelt gave the young players the needed exposure for their growth.
Banda also hailed Kadema Transport, UKU Enterprises, Great North Road Academy and Sammic Bureau De Change for providing financial support for the the tournament held at Queensmead Stadium in Lusaka.
Banda said Cubs Academy was inspired to host the inaugural Zambezi Cup to monitor the progress of its junior players and encourage the development of players from other academies.
He said it was encouraging for the boys to see coaches from national youth teams watch them as the future stars.
We have seen that with our national Under-17 an now we are trying to help the association and the nation by going back to the basics introducing these competitions to these young ones,” he said.
Kitwe Youth Academy came out first in the under-15 category after beating Game On Academy, Cubs Academy and Apex Academy while Cubs claimed the runners up spot.
In the Under-17 category, Cubs United won the competition with two wins and one draw while Kitwe Academy claimed the runners up spot.
Apex Sports Academy coach Mike Chipilauka said the two-day Zambezi tournament which kicked off on Saturday and ended on Sunday presented many lessons for all the teams that participated.
Chipilauka who guided his team to a third-place finish appealed to tournament organisers to make the competition bigger next time to make it more competitive.
