Zambia's badminton player Eli Mambwe has been handed a bye from the preliminary stage at the Beijing Olympic Games on August 9, according to The Post.

Badminton Zambia (BZ) general secretary Godfrey Masuwa said in an interview on Sunday that Mambwe would enter the Olympic badminton tournament in the round of 32.

Masuwa said the draws were made in Beijing in on Saturday.

"Eli has been handed a bye from the round of preliminary round and will enter the competition in the next round of 32," Masuwa said.

Masuwa said in the round of 32, Mambwe will face winner of the preliminary stage draw between Stuart Gomez of Australia and Irwin Kelhossner of France.

He said should Mambwe progress to the next stage, he will be up against world fourth seed Chen Jin of China.

Masuwa said BZ was excited about Zambia fielding its first-ever badminton Olympian since the association was formed in 1948.

He said the development shows the great strides that the game has made in the 60 years of the association's existence in Zambia.

"Overall we are excited about seeing Eli being the first Zambian badminton player to qualify to the Olympic Games," he said.

"We hope he can go on and became the first Zambia to win an Olympic medal in badminton.

"At the Athens Olympics, Africa had just one place reserved for the continent, but this year wehave three places for the men and four for women. This shows the great strides things have changed with the Beijing Olympics."

Mambwe won silver at the 2007 All-Africa Games held in Algeria last July.

And BZ has postponed the Top-16 tournament set for Central Sports Club in Lusaka this past weekend to help Mambwe prepare for his Olympic outing.

Masuwa said the Top-16 has been postponed due to renovations being carried out at the club and the event would now be held on August 16.

(Xinhua News Agency July 28, 2008)