Malawi Chess Association secures sponsorship from Mybucks
A few days after it president Susan Namangale was voted Best Sports Administrator for the second year running during the Malawi Sport Award held on Valentine Day at Bingu International Conference Centre (BICC) in Lilongwe, Chess Association of Malawi (CHESSAM) has secured sponsorship from Mybucks Bank at K1 million.
CHESSAM publicity secretary Alfred Chinthere said the symbolic presentation of the cheque is scheduled for Wednesday afternoon at Mybucks premises at City Centre in Lilongwe.
“CHESSAM appreciates this support by Mybucks Bank, which will go a long way in the development of the sport and we believe it is an advent of a long-term partnership,” Chinthere said in a statement.
This will certainly galvanize CHESSAM to continue being one of the best managed sports discipline as last year, it garnered majority of the awards.
Namangale was picked as the best by three different panels of expert judges ahead of several other nominees from various sporting codes.
Attributes that on her the award is the excellent style of leadership in CHESSAM and also that she is the only female chess president in Africa.
Chess was also nominated in three other categories namely: Sports Association of the Year, Best Executed Sports Program (Chess in Schools) and Best Junior Male Sportsperson (Quincy Mukhwapa).
Chess also dominated last year’s event after winning five awards through Namangale; Chiletso Chipanga as Best Sportsman having won the African Amateurs Championship.
Chess in Schools was also voted as the best executed sports development programme while CHESSAM won the Sports Association of the Year Award.
In a whatsapp message to the chess fraternity, Namanhale said: “Thank you all. I dedicate this award to all of you. Chess has won, help me push the chess agenda to greater heights.”
Chess scooped five awards at the previous gala. The Malawi Sports Awards was introduced by Sports Council as one way of motivating athletes, individuals and organisations, annually for their outstanding role in Sports.
International female footballer Tabitha Chawinga went home with two awards — Sportswoman of the Year and Best Overall Sports Personality.
Bernadetta Kwiimbira won the Umpire of theYear award; professional golf mentor Dingaan Chirwa was Best Coach; while Golf Union of Malawi to the Sports Association of the Year accolade.
Junior Female Sportsperson of the Year went to Mirriam Kachingwe; Junior Male Sportsperson of the Year went to Atupele Somba; Draughts was National Team of the Year while that of the Best Sportsman went to Noel Lifa.
Best Sportsman with Disability went to Davison Junior; Best Sportswoman withDisability was Taonere Banda and Best Executed Sports Programme went to Cricket Academy
Lilongwe Urban was Sports District of the Year, The Times Group retained the Best Media House award while Malawi National Council of Sports Chairperson’s Award went to Griffin Kalua.
In their third edition, the Malawi Sport Awards Gala are meant to encourage sportspersons to aim higher in their respective disciplines and promote creativity, fair competition and innovation.
They are also meant to attract the corporate world to have confidence in investing into sports in order to empower the athletes economically.
The winners received various prizes and they automatically qualified as nominees for the Region 5 Sports Awards.
Last year, Malawi was represented at the Region 5 Sports Awards by junior chess player Blessings Kamanga; junior athlete Moneyi Chingaipe; Malawi U-20 netball coach Christina Mkwanda Munji and first female to win the Commonwealth lightweight in 2018 Anisha Bashir.
Bashir was last year’s biggest winner of the night with two awards — Sports Personality of the Year and Sports Woman for winning two belts in 2018, the African Boxing Council and Commonwealth Lightweight belts.
Bashir, who was favored against footballer Tabitha Chawinga and netballer Joyce Mvula, was also the fourth best ranked lightweight in the world.
