Junior Queens, Flames take silver, bronze
Team Malawi on Wednesday won its first gold medal at the on-going Region 5 Games in Lesotho through 16-year-old taekwondo athlete Veronica Manda.
Ironically, her feat came during her first international appearance through a technical knockout triumph against the host country’s Lipuo Molise in the final.
Manda’s individual gold adds to the silver and the bronze that the country has so far won through Junior Queens and Junior Flames, respectively.
Junior Queens lost 33-26 to South Africa in netball final on Wednesday while the Junior Flames whitewashed eSwatini 4-0 in football third-placed encounter.
On her way to to the final, Manda beat her eSwatini opponent 33-11 in opening games and a Botswana athlete 22-9 in the semi-finals.
“I can’t believe that I have won the first gold for Malawi. This is a great achievement for me and I can’t wait to take this medal home. I am very happy,” she said in a WhatApp interview.
Her coach Henry Zonda and Taekwondo Association of Malawi (TAM) vice-president Assa Mulagha Maganga said they were impressed with the Mzuzu-based athlete’s performance and were happy that finally Malawi taekwondo has a Region 5 medal.
“The last fight was very tight, but she won it because she was very smart and calculative,” Zonda said.
Maganga said Manda is one of the female taekwondo athletes they are developing for other bigger international events and has since urged the corporate world to assist in this aspect.
In netball, with Stella Matelezi and Relie Banda under the loop, Grace Ngalonde in wing attack and Marrieta Harrison in the centre, Junior Queens had a fair start as they only trailed 7-8 in the first quarter.
However, the game gradually got out of reach from the second quarter that ended 12-19. They lagged behind 21-28 in the third segment.
Wing defender Chikumbutso Chisambi, goal defender Hope Mndala and goalkeeper Chimwemwe Chigunde could hardly contain South Africa’s lofty attackers.
The Malawi Under-18 National Netball Team coach Carol Mtukule-Ngwira said although they lost, the consolation was that the margin was not wide compared to the 42-27 defeat they suffered at the hands of the South Africans during round robin matches.
“We applaud the girls for putting up a spirited fight in the final. Narrowing the score margin was no easy task,” she said.
As for the Junior Flames, Masambiro Kalua was their hero as he hit a hat-trick to win the Man-of-the-Match Award and emerge the tournament’s joint top goalscorer with five goals alongside Zambia captain and player of the tournament Joseph Sabobo Banda. Horice Chuzu scored Malawi’s fourth goal.
Kalua struck in the 13th, 40th and 58th minutes before Chuzu hammered the last nail on Eswatini in the 90th minute. In the final, Angola won gold after beating Zambia 2-1 on Wednesday.
