Sport in Malawi

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Athletics in Malawi has been shaped by its history as a colony in the old British Empire; the most popular sports come from Britain.

Football (soccer) is the most popular sport. It is played by boys at all levels from makeshift village playfields to prepschool league competition. Malawi fields a national football team.

Netball has long been a popular sport for schoolgirls. It is the sport that has brought Malawi on the African map, with the country qualifying for and coming first in regional tournaments such as the COSANA tournament. The netball team has also participated in world events, sometimes coming in the top seven.

In post-colonial Malawi, other sports have been introduced into the schools. Volleyball and basketball have taken hold, principally through the efforts of Peace Corps Volunteers from the USA in the mid 196. The African Bible College has further contributed to the growth of Basketball by bringing professionals from USA to hold coaching clinics and also sending some of the best players to the USA.

Athletics and cross-country running have also been developing since Malawian independence. A pioneer in the systematic training of talented young runners is Dr. Harold Salmon, a Peace Corps Volunteer who served in Malawi from 1966-1968. From the year 2000, there has been an improvement in the quality of athletes the most notable of whom is Catherine Chikwakwa, now based in Germany. There are other runners from the University of Malawi and the Army who have shown significant progress.

Other sporting fields like Tennis and Squash have recently started gaining popularity, largely owing to the exposure that Malawians are getting to these sports through TV. The Squash team will participate in the 2006 Commonwealth Games.

Korfball is a new initiative to Malawi and the mixed element of this sport shall bring a new qualities into the Malawian sport communities.