National Sports

Malawi Wrestling targets 2016 Brazil Olympics

 

Vidov (C) drills local coaches at BYC on Tuesday
Vidov (C) drills local coaches at BYC on Tuesday

Malawi Wrestling Association (MWA), which registered with Sports Council a few months ago, has announced that it will build a national team to fight for medals at the 2016 Olympics in Rio De Jeneiro, Brazil.

MWA vice-president Mary Kalirani said this on Tuesday at Blantyre Youth Centre (BYC) where six-time World Wrestling champion Bulgarian Nikolay Vidov was drilling prospective coaches for the sport.

“We would like to have a formidable national team by next year. We know it is not easy to build such a squad considering that wrestling is a new sport in the country. But we have an excellent strategic plan that will make us achieve our goals of competing for medals in Brazil,” said Kalirani.

Kalirani said they are currently building a national structure, starting with trainer of trainers courses. She said the Bulgarian has already conducted the course in Lilongwe and he will complete the training for Blantyre coaches tomorrow. Similar sessions will be held in Zomba and Mzuzu in the coming weeks.

“Once the coaches are trained, we expect them to produce athletes who will start competing in domestic contests that will start at district level at the end of the year. Then, early next year, we will have regional and national championships that will produce athletes for the national team,” she said.

Meanwhile, Vidov, who won the 2012 Veteran Wrestling World Championships, said the 20 coaches he is drilling at BYC are responding well to training.

The wrestling expert came into Malawi last month with funding from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) through the Malawi Olympic Committee (MOC).

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