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Zambia's junior national soccer team technical bench suspended

Xinhua, July 30, 2016 Adjust font size:

The full technical bench of the Zambian U-17 national soccer team had been suspended following the team's disqualification from the on-going Council of Southern African Football Associations (COSAFA) junior championship over age-cheating, a senior official said Saturday.

Organizers disqualified the team for fielding two over-age players. The team was booted out of the tournament after fresh Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) tests carried out on strikers Nicholas Mulilo and Benjamin Phiri showed that they were over age.

Ponga Liwewe, the general secretary of the Football Association of Zambia (FAZ), said, "The entire technical bench has been suspended while investigations have been launched."

He said the soccer governing body was currently seeking clarification about the tests conducted in Mauritius after earlier tests conducted in Zambia before the team left for Mauritius showed that they were within the required age limit.

The tests were conducted after complaints from two teams about possible age violations.

Malawi, who were runners-up in Group B have since taken the top spot and will play the semifinals against Namibia while Kenya has claimed the runners-up spot. Endit