‘Mini-Olympics not for talent identification’

Mini-Olympics task force technical chairperson John Kaputa believes the barring of Tigresses players from the Southern Region Select squad by the Netball Association of Malawi (NAM) is an internal netball matter because the national exercise has no restrictions on players’ eligibility.

Kaputa’s view contradicts what NAM vice-president Chimwemwe Kachingwe told The Daily Times of Friday that the use of experienced players such as Tigresses stars Sindi Simtowe, Beatrice Mpinganjira and Grace Mwafulirwa-Mhango would undermine the objective of the contest, which is to give youngsters a chance to showcase and nurture their talents.

Exclusion of the Tigresses trio has raised suspicions on NAM’s alleged continued disregard of the Tigresses players who were also excluded from the Malawi Queens squad currently taking part in the Fast5 Series in New Zealand.

“This is not a contest for talent identification. It is open to anybody. We told NAM to organise the best regional teams, whose players can ably compete for places in our squad for next year’s Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland. So, if some players are barred, then that must be an internal netball matter,” said Kaputa.

He, however, said if NAM discovers new players that can ably replace experienced national team players, there is nothing wrong with such arrangement.

“We will have a meeting on Sunday with all the associations that will have teams in the forthcoming mini-Olympics so that such issues can be clarified and resolved,” he said.

But in an interview with Nation on Sunday, Kachingwe insisted that during a meeting with the Malawi Olympic Committee (MOC), they agreed that the mini-Olympics would be used to identify new netball talent.

“We agreed with MOC that this event should be a basis for building our Malawi Queens team B and it does not make sense to bank on already exposed players,” said Kachingwe.

“We want to have a junior side with almost equal strength to the senior team so that when one senior player is absent or retires, we should not struggle to find replacement.”

The mini-Olympics, which will incorporate netball, boxing and athletics, are scheduled for end of this month at Civo Stadium in Lilongwe.

Each of the country’s three regions has formed a 12-player netball select side for the event.