Council’s verdict on netball wrangle tomorrow
The Sports Council has disclosed that the final judgement on the dispute between Netball Association of Malawi (NAM) and Tigresses will be known tomorrow (Sunday).
However, the council’s executive secretary George Jana and NAM general secretary Carol Bapu during the week refused to comment on the progress of a closed-door meeting that began on Friday aimed at resolving the issue.
NAM president Rosy Chinunda and Tigresses team manager Hellene Mpinganjira could not be reached on their mobile phones when Nation on Sunday sought their comments on the matter.
“We are not revealing anything on the outcome of our meeting. However, what I can say is that the hearing of the matter has started and everything will be finalised on Monday,” said Jana on Sunday.
The wrangle emerged when Tigresses were disqualified from the Presidential Netball Championship at Police Headquarters in Lilongwe after their player Laureen Ngwira allegedly failed a pregnancy test.
Tigresses’ players reportedly jostled NAM treasurer Abigail Shariff in protest at the association’s move to have their teammate undergo a pregnancy test.
The fracas allegedly forced NAM to instruct Malawi Netball Queens’ interim head coach Griffin Saenda to sideline Tigresses players, including Sindi Simutowe, Grace Mwafulirwa Mhango and Beatrice Kadango, from the squad which is currently preparing for the Test Series matches in Australia and Fast5 Series in New Zealand later this month.
The council’s judegment will determine whether Tigresses players will be incorporated into the Queens squad before the team leaves for the two competitions on October 14.
