Vice-President Saulos Chilima took basketballers and spectators by surprise at the Blantyre Youth Centre (BYC) yesterday afternoon when he joined a training session.
Chilima is training in preparation for the Central Zone Basketball League (Cezobal) fundraising tournament slated for this Saturday at Civo Court in Lilongwe.
Appearing free and easy, Chilima arrived at BYC without pomp at 3.35pm sporting a black Puma hoodie, a pair of black slacks complete with a matching Puma cap.
He then changed to a Lakers’ Kobe Bryant jersey, a short and a pair of snickers and took to the court for warm up before taking part in a training game that lasted over an hour.
The veep was in buoyant mood throughout the session as he turned back the hands of time with a vintage display. The pick and roll, the give and go were all on show, but struggled to covert baskets.
At some point, he was overheard urging his team-mates with screams of “tiyeni nawoni amenewa guys atheka! [come on guys, let’s take them on, they are tired!]
In a brief interview later on, Chilima said he felt great to play with established basketballers.
“It was OK. It was great fun. I enjoyed it and hopefully tomorrow and the other day, I will also train,” he said.
Chilima is expected to captain Civo Bucks during the tournament that has been organised to raise funds for the construction of a new basketball court at Civo Stadium in Lilongwe.
Cezobal general secretary Peter Gomani told a press conference last week that they are expecting to rake in K18 million from the event after nine teams confirmed their participation at a K2 million fee. n
