COVID-19 RED ZONE GROUNDS ZAMBIA OLYMPIC PREPS

By MUKWIMA CHILALA                              ZAMBIAN Olympics-bound athletics coach Douglas Kalembo has said preparations for the games have been affected by the rising number of Covid cases and red zone on Zambia. Kalembo said that Zambian athletes had lost out on opportunities to take part in pre-Olympic tournaments in Europe due to the country being put on red alert against Covid-19. He noted that Zambia’s only representatives Rhodah Njobvu and Prince Siame have been in their best ever form but that lack of tournament exposure was the only thing hampering their preparations. He said that most embassies and countries have been denying Zambian athletes visa entry because of the high number of Covid-19 cases in Zambia. “The training is going on very well but unfortunately we are disadvantaged as a country due to Covid-19 as most of the countries have not allowed us to travel and compete in international tour tournaments which has disadvantaged us so much,” Kalembo said. Kalembo however says that he has introduced what he termed as competition training for the athletes to make up for the opportunity canceled international tournaments. He said that it is the only thing that may help them compete at such a level as the Olympics.