Malawi National Council of Sports and Netball Association of Malawi (NAM) met last week to to discuss recruitment of a permanent coach for the Queens, it has emerged.

Sports Council spokesperson Edgar Ntulumbwa said during the meeting, NAM proposed to retain Peace Chawinga-Kaluwa as Malawi National Netball Team coach.

He said: “They proposed that they wanted her to be on government payroll and we advised them to start the process by officially writing to us so that we can take it up with the authorities at the Ministry [of Youth and Sports].

Chawinga-Kaluwa drilling the Malawi Queens in this file photo

“It was further agreed that they should proceed to discuss with Peace before reverting to us.  

“Once that is done, we will proceed accordingly.”

He also said during the meeting, NAM justified its decision to retain Chawinga-Kaluwa as she is among the two coaches that have the necessary qualifications to coach the national netball team.

“They said the other one is Mary Waya, who is currently employed by government in the Ministry of Youth and Sports and, therefore, Peace was the only option,” said Ntulumbwa.

He also said NAM unveiled its plans to train more coaches.

NAM vice-president Chimwemwe Bakali, who is the association’s spokesperson, could not comment on the matter yesterday, saying he was attending a meeting.

But in a recent interview, he said NAM was still consulting on the issue.

“We have, nevertheless, identified a coach and she will be unveiled very soon,” said Bakali then.

The part-time contract for Chawinga-Kaluwa, who is FirstChoice Tigresses coach, expired at the end of August.

The Queens’ next assignment is the 2023 Netball World Cupp to be hosted by South Africa from July to August next year.

For the first time, Malawi failed to qualify for the global showpiece automatically after slumping on world rankings and qualified after finishing second in a qualifying tournament held in South Africa in August this year.

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