Kickboxing Independence Trophy on

weight categories — lightweight, super lightweight, middleweight and heavyweight.
Zika vice president, Vengai Mugadza said preparations for the tournaments are already underway.
“We have begun the preparations for the tournament to be held next Saturday in Harare.
“Registration will be done on the day of the tournament before the competition starts.
“We expect all provinces to come but Harare will provide the bulk of the fighters,” said Mugadza.
Mugadza said they are going to use the tournament to select the national team that will compete in the Word Cup scheduled for Brazil next month.
“We introduced this tournament when we established kickboxing nine years ago and there has been an improvement in terms of the competition.
“And we expect a good tournament next week because it’s part of our preparations for the World Cup to be held in Brazil.
“The technical team will be there to identify the best fighters.
“We would want to send 10 fighters but sponsorship is the problem. After the World Cup there will be the African Championships in Madagascar,” said Mugadza.
The Zika vice president said they are also going to have bouts for female participants.
“There will be female fighters. We now have upcoming fighters in Masvingo, Victoria Falls, Gweru and Harare. The problem we face with females is that they are in the sport for a short time.
“Our aim is to give them cash prizes and we are still running around to get the sponsorship,” said Mugadza.
Some of the fighters expected to compete are national champion Brighton Tangata and Nobert Bazioni from Harare as well as Ebenezer Nechaziva and Farai Chitsa from Mutare.
Harare are the defending champions and will be out to defend their title.
However, they are likely to face stiff competition from Manicaland and Matabeleland North who of late have been doing well after the national association embarked on a national development programme last year.