The volleyball fraternity has all the reasons to smile after Raiply Malawi Limited announced an increase in the sponsorship package for the 2023 Raiply National Volleyball Cup from K7.5 million to K10 million.
The competition is set for November 9 to 12 at Katoto and Rosedale courts in Mzuzu.
Raiply Malawi spokesperson Dalitso Chimwala said the company’s chief executive officer Khrishna Das disclosed the hike to Volleyball Association of Malawi (Vam) President James Kaunda during a meeting on Tuesday.
Chimwala said they hiked the sponsorship to help the competition’s champions to make the trip to Lesotho where they will represent the country at the Zone VI Senior Volleyball Club Championship.
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“We want our teams to go home with more prize money so that they use part of it to prepare for the international competition. The prize money will give the winners of this tournament a push in their preparations. It will also cater for other expenses for this international competition.
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“We want to take good care of the country’s flag carriers. The hike took into consideration the instability of our currency which is affecting prices of commodities and services on a daily basis. But we are also cognisant of the fact that value goes with prestige,” Chimwala said.
He further asked Vam to organise the tournament professionally so that winning teams do so on merit.
Chimwala said this was one way of ensuring that Malawi does not lag behind other countries in the sport.
Vam Publicity Secretary McGodwin Mangani said the hike will make the competition more exciting and competitive.
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“This increase in sponsorship package will help us prepare and budget well for this great tournament because we had a shortfall that forced us to cut its duration to three days from four as we could not afford some administration costs. But we will now run it over the four days that we had initially wanted. We therefore salute Raiply for this kind gesture.
“With this new development, we have revised prizes for our teams starting with the champions in both the men’s and women’s categories, who will get K1.25 million from the initial K700,000. Runners-up will pocket K600,000 from K500,000 while the third-placed team will walk home with K300,000 from K250,000,” Mangani said.
Moyale Barracks Team Manager Reignford Khunga said the hike has re-ignited their desire to retain the trophy.
“We have stepped up preparations after hearing that there is more money at stake. We will fight really hard to lift this cup again,” Khunga said.
Raiply Malawi has been bankrolling the tournament for 12 years now.
Last year’s winners were Moyale in the men’s category and Wolves in the ladies’.
