LUSAKA, May 30 (Xinhua) -- Zambian government has urged sports associations of the country to learn to raise their own finances to help them fulfill international fixtures.

Times of Zambia Tuesday quoted acting director of sports of Ministry of Sports, Youth & Child Development, Bernard Nakachinda,as saying here Monday that it is unfortunate the most associationsdepend on the government for funding.

Zambia Amateur Boxing Federation (ZABF) failed to send a team for the Zone-Six boxing championship in Namibia because they failed to raise 20 million kwacha (About 5,880 US dollars) of the 30 million kwacha (about 8,820 US dollars) total budget required.

The ZABBF only managed to raised 10 million kwacha (about 2,940US dollars) and could not even camp the boxers due to lack of adequate money. Nakachinda urged the associations to always plan ahead for all international events.

"Just look at the Zambia Rugby Football Union, they are able tomarket the sport and raise money to send the team for the international tournament," he said.

He said the national associations should raise at least 60 percent of the required money and the government will then supplement their efforts.

He said due to failure by national associations to raise part of the funds, it was difficult to even fund the Chess Federation of Zambia, who needed 96 million kwacha (about 28,240 US dollars) to send the national team to Italy for the World Olympiads. Enditem