Remember when the Uganda National Netball team had to wash cars to raise money for an appearance at the World Cup in 2015? I bet you don’t.
That is the same exact ordeal Malawi Athletes are grappling with ahead of the 2017 World Cross Country Championships in Uganda’s capital Kampala due Sunday.
The team has been severely financially constrained according to Nyasa Times – a daily in the country, and the Federation has since opted to send the athletes by road.
Even though tangent calculations from Malawi, through Tanzania to Uganda amount to approximately 2000km, the actual distance the group embarked on is close to 3000km.
The outfit left home on Tuesday, and it is yet to be confirmed when they will reach Uganda’s border.
Athletics Association of Malawi had confirmed seven for the global event but Marita Phiri and Grevazio Mpani were dropped due to insufficient funds.
Harry Sichali, Caphus Kasten, Chancy Master and Celine Mhango – are the lucky ones that could be catered for – currently en route to Kampala.
Nyasa Times quoted a Pundit who had this to say about the long trip for the athletes; “In terms of saving they will as it could cost less than K100,000 return bus fare each.
“But the long distance could make them stiff and it could be difficult to loosen up ahead of the competition,” he added.
Malawi last made an appearance at the Cross Country World stage in 2013. The country’s athletes made the trip to Moscow, Russia.
