Sports federations’ success stories cheer Coen Teulings representative Hans Bertels

Hans Bertels representative of Coen Teulings, Chairman of Merifin Capital in Belgium has been amused with some of the success stories local federations have recorded in the past years through the Teulings Youth Sports Challenge well organized by OYDC Zambia – Sports Development Centre.

Bertels met with presidents of the Handball Association of Zambia Victor Banda and Zambia Volleyball Association Nakaonga Kakoma on 28 April 2022.

During the meeting, Bertels expressed delight to note that the two heads of sports federations whose athletes compete in the Teulings Youth Sports Challenge have continued to identify talented players for consideration to play for national teams and subsequent participation in major senior league games.

He urged the two federations and others part of the supported sports disciplines at OYDC Zambia to utilize their success stories to source more support from others so that they can make use of facilities and see that sport continues to be developed in Zambia with good talented players being identified at the grassroots level.

And Zambia Volleyball Association president Nakaonga Kakoma disclosed that about ten of the players in the national team are a product of the OYDC stating that their performance is prototypical.

She added that the developmental Teulings Youth Sports Challenge which has been running at OYDC since 2011 is yielding positive results and appealed to other associations to take advantage of it to identify players to join different clubs and national teams.

Meanwhile, Handball Association of Zambia president Victor Banda called on other sports associations to be united and share more opportunities with OYDC to host league games at the multisport facility.

Banda indicated the need for local associations to invite their international federations to consider hosting regional games at OYDC adding that many nations admire the facilities Zambia has.

And OYDC Zambia Chief Executive Officer Dr Fredrick Chitangala reiterated the Centre’s plans to revamp some of its facilities whose lifespan expired. He added that some facilities will require over USD$500,000 to replace them hence the need for associations and the corporate world to continue utilizing the Centre as a way to raise more funds for such maintenance.

He has however paid gratitude to the Association of National Olympic Committees in Africa (ANOCA) who picked OYDC Zambia through the National Olympic Committee of Zambia (NOCZ) as one of the beneficiaries of the first phase of the pilot project to floor the multipurpose hall by a leading renowned flooring company in the world Gerflor.