Malawi Olympic Committee (Moc), which is tasked with coordinating the country’s 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games participation, says it requires an estimated K98 million to send athletes and officials to the global sports event in Brazil.
Moc Administration Manager, Naomi Chinatu, disclosed on Thursday that the current budget might be trimmed depending on the number of athletes who will qualify for the event to get underway in August.
With government’s recent bombshell that it will reduce allocations to Sports Council, Moc might be adversely affected because it also relies on funding from the council for such trips.
“Some of the athletes have not qualified for the event because the qualifiers are still in progress but if they qualify, our budget will not change,” Chinatu said.
Following the reduced sports budget, Sports Council recently announced that it will only commit an estimated K20 million for the Olympic Games, which might affect some athletes’ participation at the global showpiece.
However, Ministry of Sports and Culture spokesperson, Chris Mbukwa, said government would continue to lobby for increased sports allocations.
Team Malawi will be represented by 23 individuals, including 11 athletes, six coaches, leader of delegation (Chief de Mission) and other officials.
Malawi is expected to compete in athletics, archery, judo, weightlifting and swimming. Athletics squad will travel to South Africa for the qualifiers, whereas an archery athlete is currently in Turkey for the same. Malawi has never produced a qualified athlete let alone won medals.
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