THE Zambia Under-17 football team yesterday kicked off the 2012 Supreme Council for Sports in Africa (SCSA) Zone Six Games on a winning note when they defeated Botswana in the opening game.

The football team's victory sets the tone for the rest of the local teams during 10-day games that officially opened yesterday and end on December 16 with the official closing on December 17 at Nkoloma Stadium.

The football games are running under the auspices of the Confederation of Southern African Football Associations (COSAFA) where the winners are expected to be crowned; not just as Zone Six champions but COSAFA champions as well.

Flagging off the games with a mid-morning kick-off at Nkoloma Stadium, the Oswald Mutapa side was already two goals up over the Tswanas in the first half when hard working Paul Phiri put Zambia ahead in the 21st minute.

After the goal, Botswana put pressure on the junior Chipolopolo but they paid dearly for their mistakes in defence which cost them when Chibuye Mulilo fired a thunderbolt two minutes later to put Zambia two-up in what was to be the final result of the match in Group A.

In the second game of the day at Nkoloma, defending COSAFA champions, Zimbabwe edged Namibia 2-1 in the women's category with the first goal coming from Zimbabwe's Tafadzwa Tsunguro who opened the score-sheet on 25 minutes, while Namibia levelled through Nam-Lovisa Mulunga in the 61st minute.

However, the deadlock had to be broken and it was Zimbabwe's Daisy Kaitano who broke the ice on the 82nd minute.

In the other match played at Sunset Stadium, South Africa men defeated Malawi 4-0.

The women's games would be played in a single pool round-robin format.

Zambia 2 Botswana 0