Team Malawi struggling at AllAfrica Games

 Team Malawi has been eliminated in two of the five disciplines it is competing in at the 13th edition of the All Africa Games in Ghana.

Results to date show that Malawian athletes have failed to make it past the first hurdle in swimming and judo while athletes, boxers and taekwondoins were yet to compete as of yesterday.

After the first week, Team Malawi was yet to win a medal while 10 countries from the southern Af r ican region, namely South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Angola, Mozambique, Namibia, Mauritius, Madagascar and the

 Democratic Republic of Congo have already plucked medals.

In an interview yesterday, leader of delegation Joseph Mazaza said Chikondi Kathewera lost to Tumiso Phuthego of Botswana in men’s judo 60 kilogramme (kg) category round of 16 while in women’s category, Olivia Chikwapula lost to Chaima Sidaoui of Tunisia in 57kg round of 16 on Tuesday.

In swimming, he said despite making it to the round of 16, Luke Smit could not make it to the final in the men’s category as only the top eight are considered.

“He, however, improved on his entry time which was 56 seconds, 12 milliseconds and he registered 55 seconds and 60 milliseconds,” said Mazaza.

On the other hand, Tayamika Chang’anamuno also beat her entry time of one minute, six seconds and 80 milliseconds by 16 milliseconds, but could not make the last 16.

Mazaza said swimming coach Yona Walesi was trying to negotiate if the swimmers could be registered in other heats.

Team captain Asimenye Simwaka, an athlete, said they are hoping to do well in the remaining codes.

She said: “All is not lost. We are yet to compete in athletics, boxing and taekwondo and we are determined to do well for our nation.

“We will give it our best shot to win medals.”

In an interview, Ministry of Youth and Sports spokesperson MacMillan Mwale conceded that as a country, Malawi is struggling in sports.

He said: “We need to go back to the drawing board, especially grass roots. We also need to look at what is being done to develop our athletes so that when they go to such tournaments, they should be well exposed and prepared.

“The other area is the capacity of our coaches, we need to provide them with necessary tools for them to drill our athletes properly so that when they go there, it should not just be about improving on their personal records.”

As of yesterday morning, Egypt topped the medals list with 94, including 53 gold followed by Nigeria with 48, including 22 gold while Algeria and South Africa were third and fourth, respectively after tying on 66 medals. They had also won 18 gold apiece.

Malawi is being represented by 10 athletes at the event, two each in athletics, boxing, taekwondo, judo and swimming.