It will be a family affair in this year’s Malawi Sport Awards as Paris Saint- Germain forward Tabitha Chawinga will be up against her younger sister Temwa in her bid to defend the Sports Woman of the Year crown.
The Chawinga sisters have made the top three finalists alongside draught queen Susan Kachepa.
Malawi National Council of Sports (MNCS) Tuesday revealed the nominated candidates ahead of the annual glamorous event slated for Bingu International Convention Centre on Friday.
According to the list, Tabitha has been nominated following her exploits in the 2022/23 season, when she won the Italian Serie A Femminile Golden Boot with 23 goals from 21 matches while playing for Inter Milan Women on loan.
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Tabitha was also named in International Federation of Football History and Statistics (IFFHS) Caf Women Team of the Year and nominated for the 2023 Caf Women of the Year award.
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The Wuhan Jiangda player, who is on loan at PSG, was also nominated for the 2023 Caf Women Player of the Year award and named in best Africa XI by FIFPRO Africa. She also made headlines when she became the first Malawian woman to play and score in the Uefa Women’s Champions League.
Her younger sister, Temwa equally has exciting achievements having been named women’s top scorer in the world with 63 goals by the IFFHS.
Temwa, who has left Wuhan and joined Kansas City Current FC in the United States’ National Women’s Soccer League, was third on the ranking of Women’s World Best Top Division goal scorer for banging 30 goals in Chinese Women’s Super League.
Temwa was also nominated for the 2023 Caf Player of the Year Award and she captained the Malawi Women’s National Football Team to win the Cosafa Championship for the first time, in process scooping the Player of the Tournament, the Golden Boot and two Player of the Match awards.
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The Chawinga sisters are up against Kachepa who underlined her class when she won five gold, a silver and a bronze medals at the Africa Draughts Championships in Zambia last year.
In the team of the year category, the Scorchers have been nominated for winning the Cosafa Women Championship.
The Scorchers were also crowned as the ‘People’s Brand’ of the Year at the Institute of Marketers Excellence awards.
However, the Scorchers will face Draughts National Team and Special Olympics National Team.
The draught squad won nine medals (5 gold, two silver and two bronze) at the African Draughts Championship in Zambia.
Following Scorchers’ feat, coach Lovemore Fazili has been nominated for the coach of the year award together with Agness Chikwakwa, a national coach for VI Para athletes in the Malawi Paralympic Movement.
Another intriguing battle is in the non-citizen category where FCB Nyasa Bullets Coach Kalisto Pasuwa will face Arjun Menon of cricket and 17-year-old chess star Priyasha Santosh Shyrian.
Pasuwa guided Bullets to a domestic quadruple while Menon has been instrumental in localising cricket through the Cricket Academy.
On the other hand, Priyasha invented a chess board for the visually-impaired which was used at the Malawi Paralympics Games in December 2023.
The nominees for the Sportsman of the Year are tae-kwon-do athlete Yamikani Guba, draughts player Enock Banda and visually-impaired athlete Mphatso Saukile.
Guba, a British army soldier participating in local events where he is based in the United Kingdom, while Banda, a national champion, won two silver and a bronze at the continental championship.
Meanwhile, Paralympic athlete Saukile has been nominated for sportsman with a disability award and will face special Olympians Patrick Sichamba and Emmanuel Banda whereas Special Olympic athletes Melissa Phapa and Hanna Winesi have been nominated for the sportswoman of the year category alongside Paralympics lawn tennis player Estere Nagoli.
In officiation category [catering for best umpire/ referee/judge] female football referee Eneless Gumbo, boxing referee Gift Pasanja and hockey umpire Daniel Matavata have been nominated.
Women’s football player Victoria Mkwala will face taekwondo athletes Tiwonge Phiri and Mphatso Dube for the junior female sportsperson of the year honour while in junior male sportsperson category budding swimmer Luke Chimwemwe is up against taekwondo due Brave Kamanga and Gift Ronnex Lambulira.
In the best association section, Football Association of Malawi, Hockey Association of Malawi and Association of Draughts in Malawi have made the top three while the battle for sports district of the year is between Karonga, Salima and Chitipa.
In the best media house of the year, Times Group will defend the accolade having been nominated with Mibawa TV and Timveni Radio.
MNCS Development Committee Chairperson Helene Mpinganjira-Tasosa said council’s adjudication committee came up with the list of the final top-three nominees for each of the 16 categories.
“After this shortlist, the actual winners of each category will be revealed on Friday during the awards. We are happy with how the nominees have been selected. It shows there was a battle,” Mpinganjira- Tasosa said.
Former Flames and Mighty Mukuru Wanderers defender Ojukwu Malunga said it was a tight race in almost all sections.
“It shows that athletes, coaches, administrators and associations are working hard to achieve good results,” Malunga said.
