Teulings tourney woos over 5000 youths

MORE than 5000 Youths competed in the 2020 Teulings Youth Sports Challenge which kicked off on Saturday, February 15 with athletes competing in beach volleyball, taekwondo, netball and hockey.

The games are supported by Coen Teulings, chairman of the Merifin Capital in Belgium were being held at the Olympic Youth Development Centre OYDC.

The league games are expected to run for 10 months and will mainly engage athletes below the age of 17 years.

OYDC Zambia, chief executive officer Dr. Fred

Chitangala said OYDC Zambia, will continue to make facilities available during competitions.

Chitangala said the centre remained committed with the support of CoenTeulings to nurture future young talented athletes who would later progress to play in junior and senior national teams.

Chitangala disclosed that the 2020 Teulings Youth Sports Challenge would simultaneously run with the HIV Prevention through sport project supported by the President's Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) to see that more athletes were sensitised on HIV.

He further added that while the two programmes would be underway, the “Play 2 Conserve” project supported by WWF would be taking place by using sport to spread conservation messages to the masses.

Meanwhile, Chitangala, announced that the year 2020 is the year of action and programme implementation adding that about five sports disciplines would be announced and added to the new youth league games.

He implored the corporate world to emulate CoenTeulings, WWF Zambia and PEPFAR Zambia by adopting several sports disciplines at the centre.