Madise retains post as Sports Council Board chairperson 

University of Malawi Vice-Chancellor, Sunduzwayo Madise has retain his position as Board chairperson of Malawi National Council of Sports.

Other Board of Directors that retained their posts are body building expert Charles Ulaya; former Netball Association of Malawi general secretary, Helen Mpinganjira and Gladson Kuyeri.

Former Flames legend Young Chimodzi also made it alongside former Chess Association of Malawi (CHESSAM) president, Susan Namangale; Thokozani Chimbali; Chigomezgo Nyasulu: Alufayo Chipanga and journalist Chisomo Mwamadi.

Madise is no stranger to sports administration as he once served as chairperson of the defunct Escom United and was also a pioneer of the formation of Super League Association of Malawi (Sulam) that later transformed into Super League of Malawi (SULOM).

Susan Namangale is the first-ever female president of CHESSAM who transformed the association during her reign that ended last month when that sport’s fraternity voted in Mpilo Mizere.

But Namangale once again went into history when she was elected Zone 4.5 Region president after beating Tseliso Motloeloa from Lesotho in a tightly contested election held at the Leela Palace in Chennai, India.

Zone 4.5 compromise Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Mozambique, Angola, South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Swaziland and Lesotho.

She won the prestigious Malawi Sport Awards for second year running as Best Sport Administrator Award, the first in 2019 in which CHESSAM was awarded in 6 categories.

During this year’s event, she received Sports Council’s Chairman’s Award for her outstanding leadership as CHESSAM president.

In congratulating Namangale for the post of Zone 4.5 Region president, Madise posted on Facebook that she proved that his  choice for the Chairman’s Award “could not have been more right”.

He had said despite Namangale taking the reigns of the regional chess body and having served a one-term presidency, “Susan decided not to contest but to pass the baton and allow others to take the mantle”.

“There is the measure of a leader. That is leadership. I doff my hat off you Madame President,” he said.

Young Chimodzi has played at the top level from CCDC to Silver Strikers and into the national team, playing alongside other legends such as late Jack Chamangwana, Lawrence Waya, Kinnah Phiri, Harry Waya and many other greats.

He retired and went on to coach his former club Silver and had coached the Flames on several occasions.

Helen Mpinganjira is talked in the same breath of top achievement that is the national netball team, the Queens. She has also served in the executive of Malawi Olympic Committee.

Meanwhile, Sports Council is expected to field a competitive squad for Team Malawi at this year’s first-ever  African Union Sports Council (AUSC) Region 5 Under-20 Youth Games from December 2-11 in Lilongwe.

A total of 227 athletes in various sporting disciplines went into camp November 14 for their third and final preparations in 10 sporting codes, which include football (boys and girls); netball; volleyball; basketball; athletics; taekwondo, judo, boxing, swimming and tennis.

E-sport will also take place at the games on a trial basis (exhibition) and Malawi will also participate.

The first camp took place in June in Blantyre, while the second camping took place in September in Lilongwe.

After the second camping in Lilongwe, the athletes were involved in residential camping where they were mentored by their coaches, Malawi Schools Sports and Association (MASSA) and officials from Soorts Council.

Team Malawi is expected to be in Lilongwe by November 27 ready for the opening ceremony on December 2 at the Bingu National Stadium.

Participants are from 10 countries — Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Eswatini, Angola, Namibia, Botswana and South Africa — to compete for regional honors while Mauritius and Seychelles are coming in as guest countries.

The under-17 boys football matches will be used as qualifying matches for the 2023 African Youth championship which will take place in Cameroon.

During last year’s Region 5 under 20 Youth Games in Lesotho, Team Malawi managed to win 29 medals (2 gold, 10 silver and 17 bronze) — which was a record-breaking performance considering how the team had been performing in previous years.

Sports Council public relations and communications officer, Edgar Ntulumbwa says they are confident that Team Malawi will break the record that was set in Lesotho.

“Since we came back from last year’s event, we did a postmortem to identify the areas which we think contributed to our success and how we can improve on other loopholes faced during the tournament.

“Currently, I can confidently confirm that we’ve rectified all the weak areas and it our hope that we’ll register another remarkable history in this year’s competition because our preparations have been good,” Ntulumbwa said.