adminThe tournament will feature five provinces — Bulawayo, Midlands, Matabeleland North, ZNA and Mashonaland East.
Zaba technical director, Petros Masiyambumbi, presented an opportunity for the fighters to build their profiles ahead of upcoming international tournaments.
“This is our first tournament of the year. It’s a national tournament and we have invited all the provinces but some are not coming due to financial problems. We have boxers from five provinces who have confirmed their participation.
“We are expecting a good competition. ZNA are the title-holders and they have been dominating all the tournaments, including national championships, and the Champions of Champions.
“However, it’s going to be a tough situation as some provinces will come and try to challenge ZNA but like in any other sports anything can happen. It is also an opportunity for the boxers to build their profile for selection into the national team for future international events,” said Masiyambumbi.
ZNA have been dominating local tournaments over the years with Masvingo being their only rival and the ZNA technical director noted that lack of facilities has been the major setback for the other provinces.
“ZNA have got the facilities and they are supported but the other provinces are lagging behind because of lack of resources.
“They do not have qualified coaches because their coaches cannot afford to attend some of the coaching courses that we hold,” said Masiyambumbi.
ZNA coach Alexander Kwangwari said they will be out to defend their titles in the different categories they won last year.
“We are well prepared for this tournament and our guys are fit. We have title holders in most of the categories and we want to defend those titles,” said Kwangwari.
Online Reporter