Newly elected Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa (Anoca) Zone V1 President Jappie Mhango has urged countries to invest more resources in sports.
Mhango made the remarks during the Anoca elective annual general meeting in Salima District on Saturday.
“We, as a country, have not invested much in sports, which is why we are under-achievers. The results are not coming by accident. We only want results but do not want to put more resources into sports,” Mhango said.
His remarks come after countries, including Malawi, have underperformed in international competitions.
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Malawi has failed to win medals at both Commonwealth Games and Olympic Games for over 40 years now.
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Mhango, who defeated South African Barry Eugene Hendricks with 7 votes to 4, will lead the association for the next four years.
He said his mission was to explore opportunities which Anoca offers for the good of the country.
“Our colleagues have high performance centres and it is not surprising that they do well.
There are a lot of opportunities within Anoca which we, as a country, need to tap from.
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“At the same time, I would ensure that our region does well in international competitions,” Mhango, who is also Rumphi North Member of Parliament, said.
Meanwhile, Principal Secretary for Youth and Sports Isaac Katopola has pledged to invest more resources in sports.
“We will continue to provide support to our local athletes to ensure that they perform well in international competitions such as the Commonwealth and Olympic Games,” Katopola said.
During the elections, Gonye Thaban from Zimbabwe was elected vice president unopposed whereas Maxwell Jele from eSwatini was elected secretary general unopposed.
Morake Raleaka from Lesotho was elected treasurer unopposed.
Hazel Kennedy from Zambia, Diana Ahrens from Namibia and Botsang Tsenyego from Botswana were elected board members.
Over 35 delegates from 10 countries—namely hosts Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Angola, Lesotho, Zambia and Zimbabwe—attended the meeting.
