Malawi Cyclists Place Top 50 in Zanzibar Sports Fest
Malawi sent nine cyclists - seven men and two women - to the festival.
ZANZIBAR, Tanzania - Out of 114 cyclists from 8 countries at the Zanzibar International Sports Festival from Feb. 9-12, 2024, the Malawi cycling team managed to finish below the 50th position, writes Happy Valirani.
In the men's category with stages of 97, 103 and 128 kilometers, seven Malawian cyclists placed from 19th to 40th.
In the women's category with stages of 53, 57 and 64 kilometers, Malawi's Loyce Phophiwa secured 9th place out of 22 female competitors.
Malawi sent nine cyclists - seven men and two women - to the festival.
"Although Malawi did not do as well in the tournament as we expected, we are impressed with the results considering the team did not have enough preparation time," said Tikondwe Katumbi, deputy secretary of the Cycling Federation of Malawi.
"Our cyclists were below the 50th position out of 114, which is very good for us because they were competing against the best," Katumbi said.
He added that the festival provided good exposure for Malawian cyclists to compete at an international level, unlike just locally.
"This is the first time in recent years CFM has sent such a large cycling contingent to compete internationally. We have learned many lessons from this event that we want to implement here for our cyclists and clubs across the country. We want to form more cycling clubs and organize more internal competitions," Katumbi said.