TEEN EARNS MEDAL FOR ZAMBIA
…as ZTTA dissatisfied that only one of the 10 players scooped a medal in South Africa
THE Zambia Table Tennis Association (ZTTA) says it is disappointing that from a team of ten players only one managed to win a medal at the Africa Union Sports Council AUSC Table Tennis championship held in South Africa.
ZTTA vice president, Wisdom Kaunda said it was also disappointing that the team could not travel on time for the championship in South Africa where they missed out on team events.
Kaunda said South Africa’s dominance of the championship was a wakeup call for Zambia and other countries in Southern Africa to come up with new techniques.
“When you look at the performance generally our players were doing well until they met South African opponents, that was the end of the road for them. “South Africa went on to win all the trophies which were there, so it is a wakeup call for most teams in Africa. Our players need to work hard and change their techniques in terms of training to try to understand different playing styles of other players.
So it is a wakeup call because there is a big gap between South
Africa and other countries in the region,” Kaunda said.
Sixteen year old young table tennis star Charles Banda won Zambia’s only medal at the tournament which had players from Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, eSwatini, Zambia, Zimbabwe. Banda’s impressive run in the quarter final stage and the Group Stage where he collected 122 points from Group One which had Manuel Domingos from Angola and Botswana’s Molefi Tapelo was halted by South African players who dominated the whole tournament. Banda, who beat Botswana’s Modisa Thebe in the quarter finals of the regional table tennis championship which had attracted athletes from 10 countries, scooped bronze after losing to Natto Chetan in the Semifinals of the championship played in Johannesburg.
Banda was also unfortunate to pick an injury before losing the third and fourth playoff to Jones Shaun of South Africa.
The 16 year old grade eight pupil at Simon Kapwepwe School in Lusaka is also the only Zambian to have qualified for the 2022 Table Tennis African Championships slated for Durban South Africa later this year.