Malawi’s athletes won four bronze medals at the Southern African Region Athletics Championships which ended on Sunday in Harare, Zimbabwe.
Sprinter Asimenye Simwaka was the country’s best performer with two medals after finishing third in the 100 metres (m) and 200m races.
The other two medals came from Keffas Kasiteni and Enifa Kaponda, who managed podium finishes in the 10,000m and 5,000m race, respectively.
The athletes’ coach George Luhanga said several factors affected their overall performance.
“Fatigue and lack of proper preparations were among the contributing factors. The athletes travelled for two days by road and only had a day’s rest before taking part in the competition.
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“The athletes did not have a camp in preparation for this event; they all came straight from their respective homes for this big competition. Technically, our athletes are the best, in terms of performance, but they competed with athletes who had a chance to have a camp and prepare well using state-of-the-art facilities,” Luhanga said.
He said most of his athletes finished just below medal positions.
“The other factor is that athletes did not have enough time to rest in between races. If that time was there, I believe we would have finished with more medals than these,” Luhanga said.
Malawi had 11 athletes at the regional competition.
