Whyte Mulilima officiating at Diamond Challenge
Malawi’s top umpire Whyte Mulilima, is one of the umpires officiating games at the on-going Netball Diamond Challenge in South Africa.
The National Umpires Committee chairperson has so far officiated two games. He first handled the game between the hosts, South Africa, and Zambia.
South Africa won the tie 63-38 and Mulilima was in action again when Malawi Queens lost 33-43 to the hosts.
Netball Association of Malawi (Nam) general secretary, Carol Bapu, said it was a blessing to have a local umpire officiating at the four-nation tournament.
“It shows that our umpires are trusted and rated highly by our counterparts,” she said.
Bapu said Mulilima should use such occasions to market himself to enhance his chances to officiate at World Championships.
“It would be nice to have a Malawian officiating at World Cup. It is tournaments like Diamond and the Africa Netball Championship where umpires build their profile and we hope that Mulilima is building his as well,” she said.
Last year, the International Netball Federation (INF) invited Mulilima to be among officiating personnel for the Africa Netball Championship which was held in Botswana.
INF used the championship to assess umpires from B-certificate to A-certificate and be eligible to handle the world’s top events including Commonwealth Games, Fast 5 and World Championship.
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