40 years without C’wealth Games medal
Malawi wi ll mark 40 years without winning a medal at the Commonwealth Games next year after clinching its last medals at the 1986 Games in Edinburgh, Scotland.

The 23rd Commonwealth Games scheduled for Glasgow in Scotland will run from July 23 to August 2.
Since its maiden participation in 1970, the country has won only three medals, all bronze through boxing in lightweight category.
The first Malawian to win a medal was Tatu Chionga at the 1970 Games in Edinburgh. Ironically, 16 years later, in 1986, the duo of Lyton Mphande and Solomon Kondowe achieved a similar feat in the same city.
And while Malawi is yet to start preparations for the global games, neighbouring countries such as Zambia, Zimbabwe and Sout h Africa have intensified their preparations by sending their athletes to high performance centres for training, Local athletes are yet to get started.
Ma l a w i O l y m p i c Committee (MOC) director general Naomi Chinatu said they are waiting for a response from government, having submitted a K635 million funding request towards preparations and qualifying tournaments.
“As you a re awa re, Commonwealth Games are government’s responsibility, our committee is there only to facilitate the participation of Team Malawi,” she said.
“So, we submitted the budget to government through Malawi National Council of Sports.”
S p o r t s C o u n c i l s p o k e s p e r s o n E d g a r Mtulumbwa confi rmed receipt of the funding request in an inter view yesterday.
“Yes, we received the budget and we are waiting for the 2025/2026 National Budget to be tabled in the next sitting of Parliament,” he said.
MOC has selected eight sporting disciplines for the qualifying tournaments and these are athletics, judo, boxing, swimming, netball, parasport, weightlifting and cycling.
“We are looking at a team of 42, but they have to qualify and no qualification means we cannot compete. We believe national sports associations have started preparations as that i s their responsibility,” said Chinatu.
But in an inter v iew, Malawi Boxing Association president Pyson Likagwa said they are yet to roll out preparations due to lack of funds.
“If we are to stand a chance of qualifying, then we need thorough preparations. But in the absence of resources, we cannot dream of qualifying, let alone being at par with other countries. So, we need to be given resources in good time,” he said.
Boxing is one of the many di sciplines that missed the Paris 2024 Olympics because government did not provide adequate resources.
“Nevertheless, while waiting for guidance from MOC and government, we will use the 2025 African Union Region Five Youth Games in Namibia to help us keep in shape. We already had camps in December and will resume next week before the actual youth games,” said Likagwa.
Judo Association of Malawi gener a l sec retar y Osborne Banda said they are waiting for communication from the International Judo Federation on the details for the qualifying tournaments.
“Sometimes they use global and continental rankings, so we are just waiting,” he said.