Monarchy Lodge hosts Malawi Queens as coach critique C’wealth selection
Monarchy Square Lodge and Netball Association of Malawi (NAM) has organised a dinner and dance with the national netball team, the Queens on Saturday in Blantyre.
The dinner party which will be held at Monarchy Square Lodge, Magalasi road in Blantyre will start at 7pm with contributions of K6,000 for Dinner and Dance and K1,000 for dance only.
Monarch Square general manager Henry Mwale said the dinner party has been organised to appreciate the Queens performance in Scotland during the just ended Commonwealth games which was impressive and the team had demonstrated to be a source of national pride.
The Queens retained position five on the globe and first in Africa after thumping out their usual rivals South Africa in their last game.
Meanwhile, renowned coach for one of the country’s top teams has said Malawi could have managed to break into the top four if good strategies were put in place during the Glasgow Games.
The coach said the Queens coach Mary Waya was not given a free hand to pick the squad for the games on merit citing some of the players who did not deserve to be in the team.
The concerned coach, speaking on conditions of anonymity, questioned the selection of Joana Kachilika who plays for Waya’s coach club team MTL Queens, Takondwa Lwazi, Jane Chimaliro and Tina Kamzati of Civo nets .
“I think Mary Waya included Takondwa Lwazi, Jane Chimaliro and Tina Kamzati to appease the Netball Association of Malawi (NAM) because we have better players such as Bridget Kumwenda,” the coach said.
“Joana Kachilika was forced into the squad because she comes from the coach’s club team MTL Queens.”
The critic also said the selection inbalance also put pressure on key players such as Mwawi Kumwenda, Caroline Mtukule Ngwira, Sindi Simtowe and Beatrice Mpinganjira who could not given a breather to rest during the tournament.
“In the New Zealand game we were beaten because our friends were able to substitute players who could effectively change the course of the game. Malawi could not have done the same because our substitutes were not good enough,” said the coach.
On tactics the coach said towering shooter Lauren Ngwira was underutilised because she could have been used as a defender like in the game against Jamaica to deal with their towering shooters.
“If I was in that Jamaica game situation I could have gambled Lauren Ngwira to play just as Linda Magombo has done before just to deal with long balls,” the coach observed.
“Jamaica took their height advantage to win with a wider 81-50 margin while New Zealand shooters and defenders were almost the same as Malawi’s.”
Malawi finished on fifth position after finishing after beating their continental age-old rivals South Africa.
They were in Pool B alongside New Zealand, Jamaica St Lucia, Northern Ireland and hosts Scotland.
The Queens full list of players comprise Mwawi Kumwenda (Canterbury Tactix) Sindi Simtowe, Beatrice Mpinganjira, Grace Mwafulirwa and Lauren Ngwira (Complex Tigresses), Caroline Mtukule Ngwira and Towera Vinkhumbo (Diamonds), Joana Kachilika, (MTL Queens), Takondwa Lwazi, Joyce Mvula (Blue Eagles) Tina Kamvati, and Jane Chimaliro (Civonets).
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