Olympic Youth Development Centre (OYDC) Programmes Manager Mayamba Sitali, says coaches at the Centre are well prepared to utilize the 2017 Teulings Youth Sports Challenge to develop and produce future Olympic gold medalists ahead of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics Games.
Sitali said the Teulings League hosted at OYDC annually had greatly helped identify, develop and select athletes to play in the national teams and local clubs.
“The Centre expects the best out of the athletes that will be participating in the league games, as the games are used to help spot out talent,” Said Sitali.
“Individual athletes that are not part of the Teulings programme but prove that they have skill for sport, will be given sponsorship,” he added.
Meanwhile Teulings, Basketball coordinator Nicolas Phiri, said that over 200 athletes are expected to take part in the Teulings Basketball league at OYDC this year.
Mr. Phiri, has since named Mapoloto, Bulldogs, Sport in Action, Buffaloes, Matero Magic and Breathe of Heaven as some of the U-15 teams that are expected to compete in the Teulings Basketball games.
He further said that players would use the 3 on 3 format and that all the invited teams are ready for the tourney.
The Teulings project has helped positively change people’s lives and hugely contributed to the formation of youth leagues that have given a lot of youths in communities and opportunity to participate in organized and competitive sports.
The Teulings Youth Sports Challenge has four (4) sports disciplines Hockey, Basketball, Tennis, and Volleyball supported by Mr. Coen Teulings a Chief Executive of the Merifini Capital in Belgium.