Mulanje District Council Hosts Chess and Pool Competition on Independence Day
Mulanje District Council organised a chess and pool competition on Malawi’s Independence Day as a way to identify players and promote indoor sports
MULANJE, Malawi - Mulanje District Council organised a chess and pool competition on Malawi’s Independence Day as a way to identify players and promote indoor sports, writes Innocent Chamtulo, MANA.
Sports Development Officer Rita Rhino said the selected players could compete at the national level.
"We want to popularise these sporting activities, hence the holding of the tournament, and we want to scout players that can compete at the national level,” she said.
Rhino added that her department would raise awareness to encourage women to take part in the games.
Team captain Mc Dennis Banda of the Mulanje Motel Black Ball Pool Team said the competition helped his team learn new skills and rules.
"We have learned a lot from our opponents that will help us make our team very strong,” he said.
Francisco Mwangupili, a chess competition winner and spokesperson for the Chess Association of Malawi, described the council's initiative as timely given that chess is a "minority sport."
"Our vision is to make Malawi a chess-playing nation, as the sport has many benefits,” he said, urging other districts to emulate Mulanje.
The winners in pool and chess took home K45,000 and K40,000, respectively, while the runners-up got K30,000 and K25,000.