Malawi team off to Botswana for Regional V Games

A 110-member Malawi delegation left yesterday by road for Gaborone, Botswana for the Council of Southern Africa Regional Five Games scheduled for December 7-12.

The team comprises 88 athletes from boxing, netball, women’s and men’s football, paralympics, swimming, judo and lawn tennis while 31 are coaches, officials and referees.

The team left after a 10-day camp in preparation for the games courtesy of Malawi National Council of Sports (MNCS) who are meeting the expenses.

MNCS sports development officer Ruth Mzengo said the games are important in the development of sports.

“These are Under-20 games targeting the youth. We can’t talk of sports development if we can’t participate in such regional games,” she said.

“We have seen some of good athletes in netball, boxing, athletics, paralympics, tennis and football emerging from these games.”

Under-17 coach Deklerk Msakakuona said they were geared for the tournament just as his boxing counterpart Andy Muyaya.

Malawi won gold medal in football in 2011 under coach John Kaputa, national team has done Malawi proud at the games.

Malawi is expected to host the games in 2022.