Balaka Admarc defend their Botsalt Netball League title 

Balaka Admarc Sisters have retained their title of the Botsalt U-23 Netball League after whipping Zomba-based Airwing Reserve 46-20 baskets in the final played on Sunday at Blantyre Youth Centre.

The champions, who were a marvel to watch throughout the 2022 grand finals, had an impressive performance starting from the quarterfinal stage where they beat Spark Sisters from Thyolo 8-7 before claiming a 48-19 baskets in the semifinals over Maritime Queens of Mangochi.

Speaking after retaining the championship, Balaka Admarc Sisters head coach, Mirhidred Chihana hailed her girls for putting up a gallant fight especially by playing all their games according to the technical panel’s instruction.

Chihana further said the 2022 competition as was not a walkover but rather the toughest one — hence saluting her charges for retaining the trophy.

“One of the secret I told my girls was to make sure they don’t stay long on our side and utilize all the scoring opportunities and I am very delighted that they followed each and every instruction accordingly,” she said.

Southern Region Netball Committee (SRNC) chairperson, Junier Kazembe expressed satisfaction with the competition, saying it is improving every year and proving to be a nursery where national team players will be coming from.

“We are proud to have this successful competition and it is always our wish to be having a thorough event because that’s what we also promised our sponsors,” she said.

Rab Processors Marketing Officer, Julio Naelo — who represented the sponsors Alifra Company Limited — said they are impressed with the competitiveness of the league as well as the administration part and that they will continue supporting the league through Botsalt brand.

“When we were coming up with this league partnership, our main objective was to promote netball league from the grassroots having discovered that a lot of talented girls who have hidden talent are failing to be sported or have opportunity to showcase their skills to the public due to lack of competitions in the districts and currently we are happy that the league is producing fruits.

“This has encouraged us and we promise to come back next year with bigger and better package,” he said.

In his remarks, Netball Association of Malawi (NAM), vice-president, Chimwemwe Bakali said he is very impressed with the results the league has been making within the previous 3 years as it has shown to be the main source of future national teams stars.

During the final, Maritime Queens player, Nthambire Orchestra was named the tournament’s best defender whereas Shyreen Sumali of Airwing got the best attacker award.

Naomi Losha of Nsanje’s Soweto Sisters received the overall best player and Mable Msosa was named the best umpire.

For winning the trophy, Balaka Admarc Sisters received K600,000 while runners-up and third placed teams got K355,000 and K255,000 respectively.