The Malawi National Council of Sports (MNCS) has allayed fears of financial hitches in the Commonwealth Games qualification process, saying funding will be made available.
Asked on what the government is doing so that all codes of sports take part in qualifiers, the board’s chair Sunduzwayo Madise said they will do everything possible to ensure that the Malawi team makes it to Scotland on merit.
He said the board is working with the Malawi Olympic Committee (MOC) so that Malawi’s athletes qualify, adding that the board is already informed that the swimming team was in Fiji for qualifiers.
“For the Commonwealth Games, we pay everything. By saying we pay for everything, I mean government. I can assure you that we are going to compete in qualifiers. We want them to qualify. We do not want to go to Scotland for a visit,” he said.
Madise added that it hurts to see Malawi representatives faring poorly at the global stage.
He said: “I was at the 2022 Birmingham during the previous Commonwealth Games. It doesn’t look nice when you visit venues and you see all athletes out or not doing too well. We hope that when we go to Glasgow we are going to do well.”
At the 2022 Birmingham Games, Malawi sent four sports disciplines, namely, netball, athletics, boxing, judo and swimming.
Asimenye Simwaka reached the finals in 200 metres where she finished sixth.
Boxer, Louis Mbewe, lost in the quarterfinals of the welterweight division.
The netball team won two games and lost three and finished fourth. The swimming team failed to advance beyond the first heat.
MOC director general Naomi Chinatu had pegged the budget for Commonwealth Games at K635 million which was already submitted to the government.
Chinatu said Malawi has been allocated 13 slots for the 2026 Glasgow Games.
“We received slots in athletics, judo, boxing, cycling track, swimming and artistic gymnastics. These are open slots. However, their international performance will apply.
“On the other hand, netball, weightlifting, para athletes, para powerlifting, para bowling, para cycling, para weightlifting, para swimming and para cycling-track are a must to qualify for them to compete at the games,” added Chinatu.
Judo Association of Malawi general secretary Osborne Banda said the qualifiers started in July.
“Qualifying events for both the Commonwealth games and the Olympic games started in July this year. But there are still more qualifying events coming up. We will have a meeting with the technical committee next Wednesday to select which qualifying events are needed to send our athletes,” Banda said.
Unlike Malawi, Zambia has been given 20 open slots, according to the National Olympic Committee and Commonwealth Games Association.
The sports under open allocation for Glasgow 2026 include athletics, swimming, judo, bowling, cycling-track, boxing and artistic gymnastics.
Whereas sports codes such as basketball for men and women, wheelchair basketball, netball, para athletics, para bowls, para cycling-track para powerlifting, para swimming, and weightlifting are only eligible through qualification.
The Malawi netball team will not go through qualification games because of a better world ranking, according to Netball Association of Malawi general secretary Yamikani Kauma.
“For netball, it depends on the rankings 1-12. So, there is no qualifiers match for the Malawi National Netball team,” said Kauma.
Malawi Queens are eighth on the global rankings.
