3 archers to represent Malawi at Morocco All Africa Games
Three Malawian archers Mark Abel, Bzalani Kamtotole together the country’s champion, Switzerland-based Areneo David, who won a gold medal at the FITA Open Competition which took place on June 23 in Switzerland, are part of Team Malawi set for this year’s All Africa Games from August 19-31 in Rabat, Morocco.
The team has been prepared by Malawi Olympic Committee (MOC) and the other disciplines selected are athletics, taekwondo, tennis, swimming and sport of the moment, chess.
Representatives in athletics are Stain Lifa (100m), Gift Kawale (200m), Kefasi Kesteni (5000m), Chauncy Master (10,000m), Golden Gunde (400m), Miriam Kachingwe (5,000m) and 2018 Malawi Sports Awards Junior Athlete of the Year, Moneyi Chingaipe in 1,500m and 5,000m).
Judo has Harriet Boniface (-48kgs) and Chikondi Kathewera (-60kgs); Taekwondo by Joseph Phiri Jnr (-68kgs), Stanislaus Karlos Phiri (-74kgs) and Vester Banda (-56kgs) while table tennis will be represented by Floriano Massah Jnr and Salam Issah.
MOC sends Felipe Gomez for swimming while chess has four — Fide Masters Joseph Mwale and Gerald Mphungu in men’s category with Daisy Nkhoma and Tupokiwe Msukwa set for the women’s battle.
Archer David Areneo came to the attention of Malawians just in 2016 when he competed at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro where he etched a historic mark for Malawi as the first ever archer to compete in an Olympic tournament.
For winning the FITA Open Competition in June 23 in Switzerland, gave him all the chances of qualifying for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
David, 24, is from Kambalame Village, Traditional Authority Mavwere in Mchinji District and he was one of the Malawian athletes who were awarded scholarships by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to be in high performance centers abroad to prepare for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
Coached by Korean Park Young-sook, he so far he has five medals — two gold, two bronze and and one silver.
In January this year, he won the silver medal in an 18-metre indoor championship also staged in Switzerland which attracted 30 participants.
The last phase of training for the All Africa Games crew will resume on Friday, August 2 and the team is expected to depart on August 14.
This 12th All Africa Games, that has attracted 54 Nations in 23 events, will be Morocco’s first to host and is expected to be officially opened on August 19 by King Mohammed VI at the Prince Moulay Abdullah Stadium.
Initially, Equatorial Guinea was chosen to host the event but withdrew due to economic problems. Zambia was later approached to host but refused, citing lack of facilities before Morocco came to the rescue.
Meanwhile, two squash athletes, Aubrey Taulo and Chimwemwe Mangani have been sent to Harare on Sunday for the Zimbabwe Squash Open slated for August 1-4 under sponsorship from AMG Global, which has paid for their travel, accommodation and food expenses.
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