MOC worried over 2020 Olympic Games preps
Malawi Olympic Committee (MOC) is worried that local sports associations have not submitted their strategic plans towards the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games despite its repeated appeals for early preparations for the global event.
MOC president Oscar Kanjala feared, in an interview yesterday, that late preparations hamper Malawi’s chances of qualifying for the games and failure to win the medals.
His remarks come barely three months after the Rio Olympic Games where Malawi athletes, who competed on solidarity, failed to win any medal.
“We have not received any interest from any sports code as to whether they are ready or preparing for the Olympic Games,” he said.
Kanjala said over the years they have been encouraging sports associations to submit their plans immediately after the end of the immediate Olympic Games.
“We informed the sports associations before the Rio Olympic Games to give us strategic plans, but up to now none has come forward. There are a lot of games between now and 2020 which these associations can compete in as part of preparations for the Olympic Games.
“These are some of the programmes we also want them to put in their plans because we are ready to support them,” he said.
Kanjala further stated that MOC has already drawn up its support programme for the local associations in the build up to the Tokyo Olympic Games.
“We have started implementing our plan from 2016 to 2020. We have put in place our support programmes which are open to all local federations that want to participate in the Olympic Games. So, this is the right time to submit their strategic plans and we are going to work with them to develop athletes for the next four years and not three months prior to the event,” he said.
Athletics Association of Malawi (AAM) president Godfrey Phiri said he was not aware of a request for the submission of the strategic plans.
“This is news to me because I haven’t seen that request. Maybe I need to liase with my secretariat, then we can see what to do,” he said. n
