The Malawi Under-21 national netball team has to wait for the passing of 2025/26 National Budget to know if they will participate in the Cosana Under-21 Championship in Windhoek, Namibia between May 1 and 5.
The Confederations of Southern Africa Netball Associations (Cosana) has organised the event as a preparatory tournament for the region’s teams that qualified for the Under-21 Netball World Youth Cup in Gibraltar in September.
during World Youth Cup qualifiers | Nation
However, Malawi National Council of Sports chief executive officer Henry Kamata said anything to do with national teams’ funding will only be known once the national budget, currently being deliberated in Parliament, is passed.
He said this after being asked if the council’s meeting with the Netball Association of Malawi last weekend discussed funding for the Under-21 national netball team’s World Youth Cup preparations, including Cosana tourney participation.
“The next national budget is yet to be decided in Parliament. Let’s wait until the budget is passed. Once that is done, official communication will be made public,” Kamata said.
Meanwhile, NAM general secretary Yamikani Kauma said they presented the Under-21 national team’s budget for the Cosana event to Sports Council on Wednesday and they are keeping fingers crossed that it will be approved for the team to go into camp early April.
However, she kept a tight lid on the amount they have presented as the team’s budget, but an inside source told The Nation that NAM wants K140 million for camping and the Cosana trip.
Kauma said: “We cannot disclose the budget until the Sports Council scrutinises it.
“However, it is our wish to get the team in camp between April 6 and 7 so that the players can tune up for at least three weeks before going to Cosana.”
She said the Cosana tournament is important as it will provide the Under-21 national team players with an opportunity to gel and gain international exposure ahead of the World Youth Cup.
Kauma said most of the players are new after recently replacing those that will be over-aged by the time the global showpiece starts.
The Malawi Under-21 national netball team players have not had serious preparations since they qualified for the World Youth Cup a year ago as their coach Noel Mussa has only been training them online.
In October last year, NAM planned to send the Under-21 team to South Africa alongside the Senior Queens for Test Series matches as part of their preparations, but that failed after the hosts issued an excuse, saying the majority of their Under-21 players could be in school.
So far, Malawi is the only team among the World Youth Cup’s five-team Group D yet to start serious tune-ups for the global showpiece and the Cosana event appears to be their biggest opportunity.
Other teams in their group are South Africa, Barbados, Fiji and Trinidad & Tobago.
