No player cheating in Copa Coke

The Malawi Schools Sports Association (Massa) has said the procedure of registering players at zonal level in the ongoing Copa Coca-Cola school tournament has helped to curb cheating.

Massa general secretary Blackson Malamula said for the first time in many years they had no serious cases of cheating during the division finals which started last weekend.

“Every year during division finals, we usually have distractions as we have to weed players, but this time around it went on smoothly. All the schools are using school-going players and that is good for the development of the game,” he said.

However, during the finals of the Shire Highlands Education Division in Mulanje on Saturday, there was a minor incident as Phalombe’s Australian Private School walked out of their match against eventual champions Modern Private School claiming the latter used non-school-going players.

But Massa dismissed the claim and cleared Modern Private School of cheating.

“They [Australia Private] left the ground when they were already losing 4-1 with a few minutes before the end of the game. We did our investigations right at the venue and found out that the claims were not true,” said Massa general secretary Chrispin Nyirongo.

Carlsberg Malawi brands manager for non-alcoholic Brenda Chilima said they are impressed with how the competition proceeded in the three divisions last weekend.

“We are impressed that there are no cries of cheating as the right players are taking part in the competition which is the whole essence of our sponsorship.

“We hope there will be more pomp and colour this weekend as well in the Central and Northern regions,” said Chilima.