MUKWIMA CHILALA writes
@SunZambian
THE National Olympic Committee of Zambia (NOCZ) has exonerated itself from the ensuing Morocco debacle in which the Zambia women under-20 failed to travel to the All Africa Games due to poor travel arrangements.
NOCZ president Alfred Foloko said that while the travel fiasco was regrettable, FAZ should be blamed for submitting and confirming the team’s participation after deadline had elapsed.
Meanwhile the Football Association of Zambia-FAZ has apologized to government for failing to take the Under 20 women National team to the all Africa games, in Morocco.
And FAZ vice president Rix Mweemba has apologized during a meeting held last Friday with the Minister of Sports, Youth And Child Development, Emmanuel Mulenga.
Mweemba also apologized for blaming the ministry over the girls’ failure to travel for the Games.
Foloko said the NOCZ worked under strict rules and procedures laid down by the games organizing committee when dealing with accreditation and travel arrangements for participating teams.
He said all sports federations were required to follow the rules and procedures and adhere to timelines given by the Games Organizing Committee for submission of athlete names, sport entries and team travel itinerary for purposes of accreditation.
He further said that all federations that qualified for the All Africa Games were expected to submit the names of their athletes to the NOCZ for purposes of accreditation before the organizing committee with deadline of July 31.
Foloko noted that all participating federations submitted the names and their respective budgets with the exception of FAZ.
“Consequently, NOCZ submitted the received names of the Zambian athletes to COJA by July 31. It should be noted that FAZ had not submitted names of their team or indicated their intention to participate in All Africa Games by the deadline,’’ Foloko said.
On August 11, long after the accreditation deadline had closed; NOCZ was informed that the girls football team will be participating in the All Africa Games. We worked tirelessly to obtain late accreditation of the team from COJA and pushed for the possible late arrival of the Girls Team by August 14,” he said
Foloko said his committee was saddened that FAZ, who were an affiliate of NOCZ
did not inform them about their participation at the Games when accreditation
closed July 31.
FAZ only submitted the names to NOCZ August 13 for the team that was expected to arrive in Morocco on August 14. A row has been deepening between FAZ, Ministry of Sport and NOCZ over the Morocco travel debacle
