The Bodybuilding Association of Malawi has asked the Malawi Government to consider supporting bodybuilding in the country.
This is according to the association’s vice president Bright Limani who said the bodybuilding sport is lacking government’s financial and moral support.
Limani made the remarks after Mr Malawi, Emmanuel Muhuwa, won a gold medal during an international competition called Arnold Classic Africa which was held at Walter Sisulu Centre in South Africa last Saturday.
He told this publication that Mr Malawi’s win at the championship is a sign that the country has the capability of doing well and thereby lifting the country’s flag on the international scene if financial support is rendered to the sport.
“In the first place, we are very happy that Mr Malawi has done something which is good for the country. This is something we have all been looking forward to because previously the country has been failing to get gold medals in international competitions.
“Government needs to start investing in these other sports. We have seen it supporting major sports like football and netball, but this is the time to inject more money in minor sports such as weightlifting, bodybuilding and even boxing. These sporting can as well put us on the map just as what Mahuwa has done,” said that Limani.
Limani continued to say that if the government is really serious about the weightlifting and bodybuilding sporting, it should start building training structures, providing training equipment and conducting talent identifications countrywide and also training coaches.
He also asked the corporate world to as well think of helping the weightlifting and bodybuilding sporting claiming government alone can do nothing.
The 27-year-old Emmanuel Mahuwa who is also known as Muscle Manzy, was recently crowned Mr Malawi. In South Africa, Manzy won in the 80kg Senior Open Men category, making him the first Malawian bodybuilder to win gold medal at a major amateur championship.
