By MICHAEL MIYOBA
THE Olympic Youth Development Centre (OYDC) has urged the 2024 Paris Olympic qualifiers bound hockey national teams to prove that they deserve the support from various entities committed to support the growth of hockey in the country.
And the National Olympic Committee has encouraged the hockey teams to maintain discipline and focus on becoming the first team sport to qualify for the Olympic Games.
OYDC Chief Executive Officer Frederick Chitangala noted that good results will attract more sponsors as he unveiled the new kit bought with support from OYDC and Cavendish University.
“The hockey teams need to prove that they are entitled to the sponsorship that they are getting and remember the government and the NOC can only sponsor 100 percent if you are going for Olympics, if you are qualifying you have to find your own resources,” Chitangala said.
“When they come back they need to prove that next time they ask for resources people should give them. They need to go and win not just to participate. They need to go and compete and win. Next time sponsorship will be easy,” he said.
Chitangala admitted that it is not easy for federations to find sponsors.
“It is not always easy to get sponsorship for sports in Zambia unless you are football. Even us as OYDC we have been writing to entities to sponsor OYDC but no one is coming forward. Sports federations have been writing to entities for sponsorship but no one is coming through. Very few are getting sponsorship that’s the problem,” Chitangala said.
Meanwhile, National Olympic Committee member Bwalya Banda who was the guest of honour is hopeful that the hockey teams will become the first team sports to qualify for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.
Zambia Hockey Federation General Secretary Elvis Bwalya has hailed Government, Cavendish University and OYDC for supporting the hockey team which is determined to make the country proud.
The Olympic Qualifiers will run from October 29 to November 5, 2023 in Pretoria, South Africa.
