8 countries confirm participation in Malawi’s 2nd African Draughts Championship
A total of 8 African countries have so far confirmed their participation in this year’s highly profile 2nd Africa Draughts Competition which is expected to be hosted in Malawi for the first time from July 9-14 2018 at Mount Soche Hotel in Blantyre.
The Association of Draughts in Malawi (ADMA) General Secretary Suzgo Nkhoma disclosed this to Nyasa Times that out of the 12 countires which were expected to take part in the competition only 8 namely Ghana, Ethiopia, Uganda, DRC, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Tanzania and South Africa have sent their confirmations and that they are just waiting for the remaining four countires which are Namibia, Kenya, Mozambique and Lesotho to confirm their availability.
However, Nkhoma said they are very much optmism that the remaining countries will join any day before the tournament starts.
“We are just keeping our fingers crossed because our target has been 10 countries to be in attandance but if they don’t make it we’ll still be happy for managing to have 8 countries because in 2016 Zambia had only 6 ountries for the same competition so to us this is already a great achievement.
“We are also calling it as a dream come true because we failed to host this tournament two years ago due to finacial hicups so this will surely go down into history books,” said Nkhoma.
He further added that as a hosting nation they are not just proud of the tournament but their main ultimate goal is to clinch the competition by dominating in all the categories.
“Every player knows the importance of this competition and morale is just high as they are all geared and eager to showcase their skills and make sure they put Malawi flag on the map,” added Nkhoma.
Currently a total of 14 local draughts players are in camp at Gold Card Lodge in Namiwawa Blantyre where they are preparing for the competition.
ADMA has been assisted finacially with Malawi Government through Malawi National Council of Sports (MNCS) as well as the International Draughts Federation (IDF).
IDF president Vladimir Langin and Malawi’s Minister of Youth Sports and Manpower Development Francis Kasaila are expected to be guests of honour during the opening ceremony of the competition.
