Council warns athletes against complacency

Malawi National Council of Sports has warned medal-winning Malawi Under-20 athletes against complacency following their success during a warm-up provincial championship in Zimbabwe.

The athletes are being drilled to win medals in international competitions under Podium Performance Programme (PPP), which the council is running through the expertise of the High Performance Centre at the College of Medicine Sports Complex.

The council’s sports development manager, Ruth Mzengo, cautioned the athletes on Sunday afternoon upon their arrival from Harare, where 26 of the 36 athletes won medals during the championship held on Thursday and Friday.

“It hasn’t been money and time wasted. All they need to do is to polish up,” explained Mzengo, who travelled with the team by bus.

“This is March, and we still have more months for preparations [ahead of Zone V Games in Angola in December]. The athletes are fit and have endurance. In terms of the runners, they need more speed.”

Malawi team, comprising athletes for judo, lawn tennis, shot put and boxing, achieved a 70 percent success rate during the championship held at Eaglesvale High School, Prince Edward and Saint George College.

In shot put, Malawi claimed two gold medals, bronze medal and silver in categories for Under-15, Under-17 girls, Under-17 boys and Under-20 boys.

Malawi featured in the shot put category Ayiche Mtambalika, George Jana, Tamandani Banda and Aaron Chazama.

There was also success for runners, who registered a haul of two gold medals, four silver medals and two bronze medals through Chioma Okafor, Ethrida Ganizani, Patrick Muyaya, Juma Wilson, Styphyl Chitedze, Innocent Bashati and Joseph Nkhata.

Malawi boxers won through Hannock Phiri and Limbani Powder. There was also more silverware from judo athletes who collected three silver medals and one gold medal after featuring Esther Mollen, Chikondi Kathewera, Vera Benjamin and Martin Kuphiri.

In tennis, Mwayiwathu Kadammanja won three matches and lost two, whereas Kondwani Phiri lost two and won three with Anderson Ndala losing thrice and winning a double.