Following a hugely successful three weeks in South Africa, the Year of Africa Truck rolls into Zambia on Friday 14 July for ten days of activities, courses and events to help inspire and educate the continent’s boxing community while also bringing a new audience to the sport. Kicking off with a press conference in Lusaka’s Olympic Youth Development Centre (OYDC), the superb facility will also become the focal point of the stop, with the YoA Truck’s mobile gym and Taishan ring visiting communities outside of the capital.

“The Year of Africa continues to go from strength to strength as it travels the continent sharing the values and spirit of boxing. Having made a huge impact in South Africa, we are delighted to touch down in Zambia and work with the Olympic Youth Development Centre as well as once more deploying the Year of Africa Truck to bring boxing closer to the region’s rural communities and further inspire the young people who could become this country’s next great Champion,” said AIBA President Dr Ching-Kuo Wu.

The Zambia-leg activities include representatives from Botswana, Uganda and Zimbabwe at the innovative GlovesUp entry-level certification course for Coaches, R&Js and National Federation staff and the 1-Star Coaching course. More than 200 children from affiliated boxing clubs will receive training at the OYDC, which will also host a series of exhibition matches.

“I am glad that AIBA has brought this extensive development programme here to the Olympic Youth Development Centre. Our experience in working with AIBA to ensure that principles of youth development and gender equality are widely integrated has been very positive, and I look forward to further collaborations across the next Olympic cycles to ensure maximum synergy between the facility support of OYDC and AIBA’s development programme,” said the OYDC Director Mr Clement Chileshe.

AIBA’s innovative Legacy Project aims to expose more than 750,000 people to boxing for the first time throughout the Year of Africa, offering over 4,800 certified course to elevate administrative, coaching and officiating best practice. Through this extensive educational programme, the Year of Africa will help raise standards right across the continent’s boxing community.

“The Zambian Boxing Federation is highly motivated by the opportunities the Year of Africa brings to our country to mobilise the boxing community and all key stakeholders to change the perception of this educational, progressive sport. The growth of knowledge through the GlovesUp courses that will be undertaken, will also help us as a Federation to raise the standards of Zambian boxing at all levels,” said Mr Kennedy Mubita, President of the Zambian Boxing Federation.

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