Malawi pool team to play strength-testing match

Malawi Pool Association (Mapa) has organised a friendly match for the national team against Lilongwe All Stars select side in preparation for the All Africa Pool Associations (AAPA) Championship.

Mapa general secretary Saulos Thindwa said the idea is to give the coach a chance to select the best squad for the continental tournament.

During the first camping, the coach trimmed the squad from 40 to 22 of which 14 were men and eight were women.

“This game will give the coach a picture of individual performance depending on the lessons he was giving them during the initial training phase. It would have been very difficult for the coach to come up with his final assessment from that single camping,” Thindwa said.

He said a similar game will be organised in Blantyre where the team will play Blantyre Select and ACB which is a snooker team.

“We believe that ACB will really provide a litmus test to our players since snooker is an advanced game as compared to pool. It is after this game that the coach will come up with his final squad of five first players, one substitute and three reserves as required by All Africa Pool Associations Championship,” he said.

After the weekend strength-testing match, the national team will regroup in Blantyre two weeks before the international tournament for residential camping.

However, the coach will be expected to trim the squad to nine players in both ladies and men’s categories one week before the competition cues off.