Netball Association of Malawi (NAM) has hailed PremierBet Malawi for coming up with a netball academy worth over K80 million at Zingwangwa Youth Centre (ZYC) in Blantyre.
Speaking after the betting company officially presented the netball academy to Blantyre City Council yesterday, NAM president Vitumbiko Gubuduza described the facility as a huge milestone in netball development.
The facility, whose construction started in January 2023, has a synthetic surface netball court, two washrooms and five other rooms for administrative purposes.
“Lack of adequate standard netball infrastructure is a big challenge to the sport’s growth and the introduction of this facility will help to mitigate it. Our girls deserve high standard netball facilities and we are grateful to PremierBet for providing one,” said Gubuduza.
She urged other corporate entities to emulate PremierBet’s example.
PremierBet community manager Hamza Mgaye said the facility, which is under the Premier projects, is meant to improve netball standards in the country.
“We are committed to improving netball standards and empowering women in the country. This is one of our contributions to netball development,” he said.
Blantyre City Council director of human resources and development Alfred Nyengo said they were grateful to PremierBet for making a significant contribution to sports development.
Group village head Zingwangwa has since urged the community members to help in ensuring the facility is protected from vandalism.
After the ceremony, Thoko Stars played ZYC netball team in a ceremonial match.
