ZAMBIA is expected to field up to 210 athletes in eight sporting disciplines during the December's three-week long Supreme Council for Sport in Africa (SCSA) Zone Six Youth Games that would be hosted in Lusaka.

Team-Zambia Chef-de-mission Man Muchimba announced in Lusaka at the weekend that Zambia would field more than 200 athletes during the Games which gobble up K135 billion and will have participation from nine countries.

Muchimba said Zambian contingent also known as Team-Zambia, had planned out to field a large contingent to increase the medal prospects and expressed hope that the preparations by individual associations was going on well.

"Zambia will field 210 athletes during the Zone Six Games. We have worked this out and associations have been informed and this should increase our medal chances. Hope the individual associations are up to it in preparing their athletes,' he said.

Muchimba could, however, not state how many medals Zambia was targeting from the fifth edition of the Southern Africa region Under-20 Games.

Earlier this month, the Sports Council of Zambia (SCZ), which is Zambia's sports authority, splashed K700 million in camping about 181 athletes in various sporting disciplines at the Olympic Youth development Centre (OYDC) to fine tune them for the Zone Six Games.

The Zone Six would be competed for in eight sporting disciplines and then more competition from the visually impaired with the eight being athletics, basketball, boxing, football (both boys and girls), judo, netball, tennis and swimming.

The venues to be used during the games are the National Sports Development Centre (NASDEC) which will host tennis, netball and boxing, Sunset Stadium which will be home for girls' football and the Mulungushi International Conference Centre which will house judo.

Other venues are the OYDC which would host basketball, athletics and swimming, from the under-construction 50-metre long Olympics size swimming pool and Nkoloma Stadium which would be home for boys football besides the opening and closing ceremonies.

Sports Permanent Secretary Agnes Musunga said Government was committed to ensuring that apart from Zambia hosting the games successfully, it also performs well.