Former Table Tennis Association of Zambia TTAZ general secretary Boyd Kabinda has bemoaned the dying glory of table tennis in the country.
Kabinda recalled that the country was the 1991 champion and managed to defend the title in 1992. He further said the championship was only lost in 1993 with dignity, as the team finished second during the challenge in Port Elizabeth, South Africa.
Speaking to Goal Diggers! In Lusaka yesterday, Kabinda reminded Zambians that the country won the 2014 zone six games and had continued to win several other competitions where individual players as opposed to a team were taken to participate.
“We have taken a number of table tennis players that finished either first, second or third. Our results have always been impressive although we receive little to no attention from our countrymen and women,” noted Kabinda.
The former Gs further revealed that the country had two leagues that commenced in March and would be concluded in November. The two leagues are the Midlands and Copperbelt ones. He said a total number of 10 clubs were participating in the midlands league while six were in Copperbelt Province. Kabinda was not hesitant to say that the competition in both leagues was higher than its publicity stood.
“The league games are always of high intensity and unpredictable nature because there are no underdogs,” said Kabinda.
Asked about the calibre of players that had performed well in international games, Kabinda revealed that the association was working with Korean high performance coaches that provided new and improved ways of training players.
“As I am speaking right now, I’m with a Korean trainer at one of his high performance training sessions. He has more than six areas which he works in and later engages the players from different training areas into round-robbing kind of competitions to see their progress,” explained Kabinda.
“Right now am looking forward to the Chinese embassy organized tournament that will attract about six countries and am sure our own players will not disappoint,” Kabinda added.