WORLD CUP TO INSPIRE LOCALS – MAWERE
By SPORTS REPORTER MINISTER of Sport, Youth and Child Development Moses Mawere says the 2018 Russia World Cup kicking off next month will inspire young footballers to work hard to qualifier for a future world cup tournament.
Speaking when he officiated at the TopStar launch of the Russia 2018 world cup countdown on Tuesday evening in Lusaka, Mawere noted that the ministry of sports was committed to promoting sports across the country and encouraging local talent identification and ethical sports participation.
Mawere expressed happiness that the Topstar, the national digital TV migration will allow more Zambians to watch the international tournament.
“I find this to be very exciting because I know that the World Cup will inspire local football talents and in future we will see the Zambian national team qualify for such international tournaments.
“We will be cheering on Africa's representatives Egypt, Morocco, Nigeria, Senegal and Tunisia and we will also be watching football stars representing their nations such as Argentina's Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Brazil's Neymar and of course, my favorite in the spotlight, Egypt's Mohamed Salah who won the English Premier League Player of the Year award,” Mawere said.
Meanwhile TopStar Sales Director, Cliff Sichone reaffirmed the national digital TV’s commitment to televising all the 64 games to be played at the world cup in Russia.
Sichone noted that Topstar had added three new sports channels which would enable subscribers to watch the world cup at affordable rates.
“we have added three sports channels for the subscribers in single frequency sites who are currently only on the K35 NOVA Bouquet; these subscribers need only to top up an extra K29 to enjoy all the live 64 games while those in double frequency sites need to upgrade to either the basic or classic bouquets to equally enjoy all the world cup games live and in high definition effective from May 20 2018,” Sichone said.
The 2018 Russia World cup kicks off on June 14 with host nation Russia taking on Saudi Arabia in the first group A fixture to be played at Luzhniki national stadium in Moscow.