Nico Life 2013 league launched in Mzuzu
The K2.5 million, NICO Life Northern Region Netball League was Launched Saturday at Rosedale Court in Mzuzu with a call from organizers for increased sponsorship to get more teams involved in the tournament.
Speaking during the launch, Northern region Netball League chairperson, Chancy Munthali appealed to the sponsors to consider hiking the sponsorship of the tournament which is solely competed for by teams of all districts in the region.
Eight teams from all the districts in the region will slug it out on the regional level.
“This is the tournament that has done a lot to help our region identify the new talent. At the moment we only take three teams from eight districts to compete on the regional level.
It is our wish to have at least four teams to compete in the regional finals because it will enable us to identify the new talent which is in abundance mostly in the districts across the region,” she said.
In her response NICO Life Branch Manager for the North, Eurita Kadaluka said she will present the request to the management for consideration.
“This is the Seventh year we have been sponsoring Netball in the north. I must assure that the sponsorship will continue because this is part of our way of thanking our customers for buying our policies.
As for the request of increased sponsorship, I will present the matter to the management for consideration,” said Kadaluka.
In her remarks, Regional Sports Officer for the North, Georgina Msowoya who represented Malawi National Council of Sports said NICO netball tournament has done a lot in raising standards of the game in the region.
“In the past we used to hide when our team was competing on the national level. Our teams always suffered thorough thrashing from Blantyre teams.
But since Nico Life started sponsoring we have seen the standards of the game in the region improving. There is a lot of competition among teams,” said Msowoya.
Her sentiments were also echoed by Netball Association of Malawi (NAM) representantive, Jane Kachali who said that the tournament will afford the local Netball governing body to identify new talent for Under 21 national team.
“Your sponsorship of the tournament in our region is not only assisting in raising the standards of the game in the region but it is also helping the nation. Through this tournament we will be able to identify talent that will be featured in the Under 21 national team,” said Kachali.
In a ceremonial match to mark the launch of the tournament, Chauka Sisters narrowly beat Moyale Sisters by 22-20 baskets.
The tournament will throw off next week on the district level and the district finals will be held at the end of this month.
The regional finals that will involve all teams from the districts will be held in the first week of November.
District champions will get prize money of K35, 000 while their runners up and the third spot team will take K25, 000 and K20, 000 respectively.
On the regional level, the regional champions will smile all the way to the bank with K200, 000 their runners up and third placed team will get K100, 000 and K70, 000 respectively.
The remaining teams from position four to eight which will reach the regional finals will each pocket a consolation prize of K30, 000.
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