National Sports

Old Mutual pumps K20m into HPC

The cream of Tigresses being crowned
The cream of Tigresses being crowned

Financial services firm, Old Mutual Malawi, on Friday pumped K20 million (about $40 000) into the first-ever High Performance Centre (HPC) for the College of Medicine’s Sports Complex in Blantyre in a massive investment meant to groom elite athletes.

The money will be invested in the facility through purchasing state-of-the-art gym equipment, pitch and running track upgrade and buying uniforms for the HPC’s hosted teams, namely Complex Tigresses in netball, Simba in hockey and the rugby national side.

HPCs are catalysts for peak performance of athletes the world over; hence, Old Mutual chief executive officer Chris Kapanga said, after signing a memorandum of understanding (MoU), his company did not hesitate to accept the facility’s sponsorship proposal made in 2012.

“We have signed the MoU to create conducive environment for sportsmen and women to excel. HPC aims to change our sports people from being good performers to great performers. HPC is a concept that exist worldwide and give athletes an impetus to move up a gear,”

Kapanga said at the event, which included a gala awarding the complex’s outstanding athletes and coaches.

Speaking earlier before signing the MoU, the complex’s general manager Augustine Banda Junior and the complex’s representative Dr. Chiwoza Bandawe hailed Old Mutual for investing in the long-term athletes development through the two-year sponsorship.

“It is a joy for us to have this partnership. The relationship between the College of Medicine (CoM) and the communities is one we take seriously, so when we have links and support like this one, we are grateful.

Sport is an important part of national development; a healthy and fit nation moves forward. There is room for Malawi sports to reach excellence,” said Bandawe.

The ceremony then descended into awards with Tigresses coach Peace Chawinga Kalua being voted the best coach out of all teams the complex hosts and sponsors while Ellen Chiboko was recognised as the best netballer. Sunganani Nkhoma, Lorraine Ngwira (in absentia) and Ezekiel Gunde were recognised as most inspiring players for hockey, netball and rugby. Up-and-coming rugby player Martin emerged as the complex’s sports person of the year.

 

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