The Netball Association of Malawi (NAM) needs to raise K50 million (about $125 000) for the national netball team, the Queens, who have a busy schedule this year.
NAM president Rosy Chinunda said on Wednesday that top of the list of the Queens’ assignments this year is the hosting of the African Netball Champions next month.
She said other engagements for the Queens include participating in the Council for Southern Africa Netball Associations (Cosana) Tournament in Namibia in September; playing at the Tri-Series tournament in New Zealand in October, where they will face Australia and the hosts; travelling to Fiji islands for friendly games in November and showcasing at the World Netball Championship in Glasgow in December.
Chinunda said before travelling to New Zealand, the Queens will have friendly games against South Africa and Tanzania.
“It is a busy year for the team and since some of the expenses will be settled by our hosts in some competitions like the Tri-Series, our budget is at K50 million. Our fulfilling or these assignments will depend on funding,” said Chinunda.
The Under-21 netball team has been invited for a tournament in South Africa this month and it will also take part in Cosana competition in Swaziland on dates yet to be confirmed by the organisers.
According to the NAM president, Fiji has promised to fund everything for the Queens trip.
“They want to take advantage of our presence in New Zealand. They are neighbouring islands, so they want us to fly to Fiji just after the Tri-Series. Although they are ranked behind us, we might just play them,” said Chinunda.
She said they have already submitted the budget to government, through Sports Council, for consideration.
“But we are not leaving everything to government. We are forming a marketing commission to help us fundraise. We need expert marketers to help us source funds. The executive will be meeting soon and we hope before the end of the month, we can have a marketing team in place,” said Chinunda.
Already, NAM has secured K4 million (about $10 000) from MultiChoice Malawi towards the Queens’ preparations for the African Netball Championship.
MultiChoice Malawi sales and marketing manager Chimwemwe Nyirenda, said K3 million will go towards buying netball equipment such as shoes, bags and uniforms for the Queens while K1 million (about $2 500) will cater for other needs.
“We are always proud to be associated with the Malawi Queens. They have proved to be a global brand and we will do our best to support them,” Nyirenda said in a recent interview.
