Chronicle Editor
Ricky Zililo, Senior Sports Reporter
FIFTEEN countries have confirmed their participation in the Squash Federation of Africa Seniors Championship to be held in Bulawayo later in the year.
Botswana, DRC, Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zanzibar and the hosts Zimbabwe will compete in the continent’s supreme squash competition from October 14-21.
Zimbabwe won the right to host the competition following a successful bidding presentation by the Squash Rackets Association of Zimbabwe (SRAZ) backed by the Government.
Lucky Mlilo, SRAZ president, is excited that they’ll be hosting the tournament, and said the local organising committee has started planning for the event.
Mlilo said the Squash Federation of Africa Seniors Championships, which used to be called the All-Africa Seniors Championships, were last held in 2013 in Namibia.
“We’re quite excited that we will be hosting the biggest squash tournament in Africa last held nine years ago. The Squash Federation of Africa Seniors Championships are held every year, but the reason we haven’t had them is that countries that won hosting rights would withdraw at the last minute, forcing cancellations.
“We’re grateful to Government which assisted in launching the bid to host this big tournament through the Ministry of Youth, Sport, Arts and Recreation. We shall continue working with the Ministry in our preparations for the tournament as well as the local organising committee that has started its duties,” said Mlilo.
He said negotiations with Olympic TV to broadcast the tournament are ongoing and appealed to the corporate world to come on board and market their products to the world.
“We’ve spoken to potential partners because we need as many corporate partners as possible. This is going to be a big tournament and it will be broadcast on Olympic TV, which means companies can showcase their products to a global audience,” Mlilo said. — @ZililoR
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