Malawi geared for Region 5 international darts games
Malawi national darts team is in Mangochi preparing for this year’s Region 5 darts tournament which the lake district will host for the southern Africa region darts tournament.
The tournament, to be played from August 27-31 at Police Cottage in Mangochi, was originally supposed to be held in Botswana but, according to Region 5 Tournament Director Malawian Charles Katola, due to financial problems the Tswanas faced they withdrew and Malawi accepted to come in for the Region 5’s rescue.
Katola said eight countries have confirmed their participation for the tournament; Malawi, Zimbabwe, Zambia, South Africa, Lesotho, Namibia, Swaziland and Botswana.
The defending champions are South Africa. Malawi last won the tournament in 2000 in Namibia.
Darts Association of Malawi president Joe Zangazanga their preparations have been very intense and continues with the training camp in Mangochi.
“We have prepared very well for the tournament and the players are so eager to make the country proud,” he said.
He said the top players Malawi is relying on are Austin Chingagwe, James Mbando and Andrew Nankhwenya, a professional who plays in the US.
One of the players, Harry Msiska, a veteran who has been a member of the national team since 2014 and represented Malawi in both senior men and veteran category (which is 50 years and above), says they are so geared to represent the country well as hosts.
For this year’s Region 5 tournament, he competed in the qualifiers for the senior men and made it among top six.
“Our preparations have been good from the outset though they would have been better but we are ready to die representing our Mother Malawi as hosts. It’s a huge challenge but we are ready for it,” said Msiska, who is also the Vice-chairman of the Southern Region Darts League.
He plays for Poly Continuing Education Centre based at the Polytechnic and currently are on position 2 in the league. As a player, he has won a number of titles in Deekay sponsored tournaments as single, doubles or treble player.
“My team have been finishing among top three in the last three years in the league and twice runners-up in the national tournaments held last year. “
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