Kanjala elected regional Olympic body Veep
Malawi Olympic Committee (MOC) president Oscar Kanjala has been elected vice-president of Confederation of Southern African National Olympic Committees (Cosanic).
The elections took place in Johannesburg, South Africa recently.
Reacting to his election, Kanjala said: “It is a great honour not only for me but also for the Malawi. It is a great platform to advance and lobby for the growth of Olympic and Commonwealth games. It is an exciting time and opportunity for me to serve in such an institution.”
Negroes Kosietsile from Botswana was elected president while his compatriot Tuelo Serufho was elected secretary general. The position of treasurer went to Merriam Moyo from Zambia. Committee members are Zombodze Magagula from Swaziland, Matlohang Ramoqopo of Lesotho, Admire Masenda from Zimbabwe and Antonio from Angola.
Athletics Association of Malawi (AAM) general secretary Frank Chitembeya hailed Kanjala’s election, saying it will benefit the local sports fraternity.
“It is a good development because we will have a voice through which we can advance our causes,” he said.
In a related development, Kanjala has announced the creation of the Team Malawi Pool annual event.
“This will be a national event where various sports disciplines will be competing annually to identify and select athletes or teams which we can nature or groom to represent the country at the Commonwealth and Olympic games,” he said.
The MOC president said unlike other events of similar nature, the Team Malawi Pool will be an open event to the public so that whoever wants to take part can join.
“There are no restrictions because we want to give as many Malawians as possible a chance to showcase their talents. We believe in this way we will create a bigger platform to identify talent. The identified talent will be groomed and developed to international level,” said Kanjala.
He said MOC will invest money and resources in the identified talent to prepare them for major global and regional competitions.
“We believe through this approach we can win medals in future,” he said.
