adminAllen Khumalo, Sports Reporter
ZIMBABWE Kickboxing Association president Tony Kamangira yesterday said their main objective in 2017 is to produce more athletes that will represent the country in international competitions.
Kamangira said they were targeting to send more than 10 kick boxers to the World Senior Championships in Ireland as well as the Junior championships to be held in Brazil in November.
In 2016, Zimbabwe did not take part in any international kick boxing competition due to financial constraints while in 2015 only three competed.
“Basically this year there are quite a number of tournaments lined up which we are planning to take part in. We have the World Senior Kickboxing Championships in Ireland and the World Junior Kickboxing cadets in Brazil. We are hoping to send at least 10 athletes to those international competitions compared to three we sent in previous tournaments. Preparations for those tournaments have already begun because we now have a skeleton team which we are going to beef up during the year,” said Kamangira.
“Our action plan is more vibrant because we are expecting to partner with Namibia and South Africa in terms of exchange programmes. We also hope to set up money games for professional kick boxers and host more events. This will go a long way in terms of grooming kick boxers that will represent us at international level,” he said.
Kamangira said although the sport has been growing with seven active provinces affiliated to the national association, lack of resources has haunted the development of kickboxing in the country.
“Sadly lack of sponsorship has proven to be the association’s biggest drawback with our talent being deprived of exposure. There is serious need for all stakeholders to invest in the sport if the country is to match international standards,” said Kamangira.
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