Malawi Olympic Committee keeps fingers crossed
Malawi Olympic Committee (Moc) is praying that athletes drawn from archery, judo and athletics qualify for 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.
Moc General Secretary John Kaputa said they, together with international counterparts, were running programmes to enable Areneo David (archery), Harriet Boniface, Chikondi Kathewera (Judo), Stern Liffa and Asimenye Simwaka to qualify for Olympics.
Kaputa said David was also performing well during training despite suffering setbacks due to the Covid pandemic.
“He [David] is in Switzerland pursing his scholarship and is ranked 321 in the world in the 70m recurve category. The Covid pandemic affected his performance as all competitions were cancelled and he had to be sent back home. Upon reopening of the centre, he went back to continue with his preparations but he is still hampered by the pandemic,” he said.
Kaputa said both Boniface and Kathewera had the potential to qualify.
“Harriet [Boniface] is proving to be an icon of the sport as she keeps improving when she participates in competitions. Currently, she is ranked 93 in the world and five in the continent in the 48kg category.
“She reached the semi-finals of the Dakar 2020 Open Championship in Senegal,” he said.
Kaputa also spoke highly of Kathewera (Judo), who replaced Emmanuel Ndawu.
“He competed in some competitions and amassed 33 points, earning position 242 in the world and seven on the continent in the 60kg category,” he said.
Both Boniface and Ndawu are preparing for the next qualifiers slated for Peru, Chile and Morocco next month.
Recently, Liffa and Simwaka qualified for the 22nd Senior Africa Championships slated for June 1 to 5 in Algiers, Algeria.
This was the first time for Malawi to qualify for the senior championships, having been participating on solidarity.
The two were part of the five-member squad that competed at the All-Comers Track and Field event at Heroes Stadium in Lusaka, Zambia, over the weekend.
