OYDC ZAMBIA SHOULD BE USED TO PROMOTE EXCELLENCE IN ATHLETES FOR FUTURE GAMES SAYS BOTSWANA NOC PRESIDENT

OYDC ZAMBIA SHOULD BE USED TO PROMOTE EXCELLENCE IN ATHLETES FOR FUTURE GAMES SAYS BOTSWANA NOC PRESIDENT

Botswana National Olympic Committee (BNOC) president Colonel Botsang Tshenyego has observed that OYDC Zambia – Sports Development Centre is one of the biggest sports facilities in the region which should be leveraged to promote regional integration through sport.

Touring facilities at the Centre Friday, 17 February 2022  Colonel Tshenyego disclosed that OYDC Zambia has good potential that should be harnessed as a region to ensure that it is empowered enough to be able to handle the sports excellence programs that are in the region.

‘’OYDC Zambia is a centre where we can share and exchange our different values, and our different practices as the region and Africa in general. So I think its seating on some good potential that we need to harness as a region to ensure that it is empowered enough to be able to handle the sports excellence programs’’ he said.

He added ‘’you know IOC has just released new sports governance principles, which are a development from the ones we had in the past non of them have become redundant, they have just added like I was talking about integration. These principles need to embrace other ideas and philosophies that sport promotes, so I’ll be making sure that the governing body here is aware of its duties and responsibilities and it discharges them in a way that the IOC and ANOCA expect’’.

And National Olympic Committee of Zambia (NOCZ) president Alfred Foloko, says the committee wants to see that the OYDC Zambia continues being a centre of excellence by attracting athletes and sports administrators from other countries stating that the facility recently had an inspection by officials from the Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa (ANOCA).

‘’You are aware Botswana NOC is very strong in terms of international performance and we have seen them minting medals at all international competitions including the Olympics, Zambia has a lot to learn from such leadership and we will take advantage of his presence here and to learn from him. Therefore, this visit I think shows the good direction in which Zambian sport is heading, more especially where the Olympic family is heading’’ Foloko said.

Meanwhile, the Botswana NOC president had the chance to meet OYDC Zambia members of staff and with Athletes Commission of Zambia Chairperson Richard Mulenga who is also a board member of the National Olympic Committee of Zambia