OYDC Zambia has celebrated its 10th anniversary ©OYDC Zambia

The Olympic Youth Development Centre (OYDC) Zambia and the National Olympic Committee of Zambia (NCOZ) are celebrating 10 years since the opening of the centre, promoting development in the region.

Opened on May 11 2010 by former President of Zambia, Rupiah B. Banda and then International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Jacques Rogge, the sports facility has been used by many athletes who have gone on to compete in major competitions such as the Olympic Games later in life.

In a statement OYDC Zambia said: "It is vital to note that the OYDC Zambia remains a safe haven for talent identification and development and we would like to take this opportunity to appreciate all our cooperating partners who have been supportive to our operations and programmes.

"On this day we would like to remind citizenry that the Centre remains open for any possible partnership from the corporate world and all Non-Governmental Organisations who have plans to use sport to execute their programmes by reaching a huge number of people through well organised league games, educational workshops and outreach campaigns."

Over the past decade, the Centre has hosted a number of events including the IOC Women in Sport Conference in 2015, the Commonwealth Games Association Conference in 2016, the Africa Netball Championship in 2018 and the UN All Africa Games in 2019.






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Plans to resume selected sports activities at OYDC Zambia on course OYDC Zambia Chief Executive Officer Dr. Frederick Chitangala, says Centre management will ensure that facility users are safe once non-contact sport activities resume. Dr. Chitangala, says following the engagement of relevant stakeholders the OYDC Zambia, will now write to the local authority to seek for a clearance certificate to resume activities in tennis, badminton, table tennis, chess and others which do not involve any physical. He says those who will be coming to conduct activities in the aforementioned sports disciplines will have to book the facility in advance adding that strict health measures will be adhered to as the nation grapples with the Covid-19. Meanwhile, Dr. Chitangala, has disclosed that activities such as the Teulings Youth Sports Challenge which engages hundreds of young talented athletes in beach volleyball, swimming, hockey, netball and taekwondo will only resume once the nation is declared Covid-19 free. Dr. Chitangala, spoke when he featured on Saturday edition of the "Day Light" breakfast show on Kennmark Broadcasting Network. The OYDC Zambia, on 17th March, 2020 suspended “All Sport and Non-sport” activities indefinitely following the outbreak of the Covid-19. The OYDC Zambia, has over 19 sports disciplines namely; athletics, judo, boxing, volleyball, football, handball, badminton, netball, weightlifting, hockey, table tennis, taekwondo, swimming, tennis, just to mention but a few. https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=3131942353535349&id=423880234341588

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In 2018 the Centre was given a Medal of Honour by the African Union Sports Council (AUSC) Region 5 for its contribution to sport development and a year later it was recognised as a high performance centre by the Association of Sport Performances Centres (ASPC) based in Spain.

Fredrick Chitangala, chief executive of OYDC Zambia ended the statement by thanking those who helped to make the Centre a reality.

Chitangala said: "May I end by thanking the Ministry of Youth, Sport and Child Development, NOCZ and the IOC for the continued support to the OYDC Zambia even during this period when they are grappling with the deadly virus."

To date, there are football and hockey pitches at the OYDC Zambia, as well as an athletics track.

A boxing hall and a swimming pool also exist at the Centre, as well as courts for basketball, netball, tennis and volleyball.