ZAMBIA Judo Association (ZJA) president Alfred Foloko has said the association is under pressure to impress during the Supreme Council for Sports in Africa (SCSA) Zone Youth Games scheduled for Lusaka so that the sport can become an annual event during the games.

Foloko said in an interview in Lusaka that the association would ensure that the judokas were adequately prepared so that they can perform well and convince the Zonal Organising Committee (ZOC) to have judo included as a yearly event during the Zone Six Games.

He said the association was grateful to Government for lobbying to the ZOC for Judo to be included at the Under-20 Games that starts on December 4 to 17 in Lusaka adding that now pressure would be on his athletes to impress as it was the first time they were taking part in such a competition.

"This would be the first time we are participating in the Zone Six Games and so pressure is on us to deliver to the expectations of the organisers and especially Government who lobbied for the inclusion of judo at the games," Foloko said.

The Judo chief said the 12 athletes in camp were responding well in training and was confident that the athletes would win medals for the country.

He said there was need for the athletes to work hard as competition would be tough from the other competing countries.

Countries that would take part in the event include Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Swaziland, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

The sports disciplines to be participated in are athletics, also for visually impaired, basketball, boxing, football, judo, netball, tennis and swimming.