Successful 2023 for Temwa and the Scorchers
* Also voted the Sports Personality of the Year after her impressive performance for both club and country
* Malawi Scorchers named National Team of the Year with their mentor Lovemore Fazili awarded Coach of the Year
* Sportsman of the Year went to Yamikani Guba, Malawi’s only heavyweight professional taekwondo athlete based in the UK
* Sports is a significant business and source of foreign exchange—Guest of honour Vice-President Saulos Chilima
By Duncan Mlanjira, Maravi Express & Leonard Masauli, MANA
Temwa Chawinga beat her sister Tabitha for the Sports Woman of the Year award and the overall category of Sports Personality of the Year accolade at the 2023 Malawi Sport Awards Gala held at Bingu International Convention Centre in Lilongwe on Friday evening — which was graced by Vice-President Saulos Chilima as guest of honour.
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This is in recognition for her role in leading the Malawi Scorchers to their first-ever international women football title, the COSAFA Women Championship where she was attained four individual accolades — Player of the Tournament; the Golden Boot award as well as two Player of the Match.
On top of that, the Malawi Scorchers won the National Team of the Year while their coach Lovemore Fazili was named the Coach of the Year.
Temwa’s sister Tabitha was also nominated for the Sportswoman of the Years in recognition of her colourful 2023 in which she won the prestigious the Italian Serie A Femminile’s Golden Boot with an outstanding 23 goals in 2022/23 league season.
She went on to be named in the Italian Women’s League’s Best XI and was nominated for the 2023 CAF Women Player of Year award as well as being named in Best Africa XI by FIFPRO Africa alongside 2023 African Player of Year Asisat Oshoala of Nigeria.
Tabitha in action for PSG in France
She is currently one of best players of the Paris Saint-Germain of France while her sister Temwa was also named third on the ranking of Women’s World Best Top Division Goal Scorer 2023 — identified after bagging 30 goals in China’s Super League playing for Wuhan.
“This ranking is managed by the International Federation of Football History and Statistics (IFFHS).
For his contributions in which his team Nyasa Big Bullets won four titles in 2023 — the TNM Super League, FDH Bank Cup, Castel Challenge Cup and the Airtel Top 8 — Zimbabwean coach Kalisto Pasuwa went home with the Non-Citizen of the Year award.
The accolade for Sportsman of the Year went to Yamikani Guba — Malawi’s only heavyweight professional taekwondo athlete based in the UK, who has been recognised for winning 15 medals in 2023 in taekwondo in his host country, UK where he is serving in the British Army — 6 gold medals; 6 silver and 3 bronze.
Yamikani Guba
Guba, who holds a Malawian passport, has represented Malawi at international level and he fights in UK representing the Army Taekwondo WT Team.
On his Facebook page, Guba said: “I feel honoured and humbled to have won the Malawi Sports Awards 2023 Sportsman of the Year Award. I want to express my gratitude to everyone who has supported me throughout my sporting career.
”These include Malawi National Council of Sports, Taekwondo Association of Malawi, Malawi Olympic Committee, Army Sport 4th Regiment Royal Artillery (the #FightingFourth), Talented Athlete Scholarship Scheme (TASS), British Army Taekwondo, British Army Xtra and journalists who have been following my progress, as well as my friends and family.
”I believe that every athlete should aspire to gain recognition with this coveted award. To the youths, I encourage them to sign up and engage in sporting activities. To the coaches, thank you for your hard work and for keeping up with me.”
Female referee Enes Gumbo was named the Best Referee; Malawi Schools Under-15 girls captain, Victoria Mkwala is the Junior Female Sportsperson of the Year; Malawi Paralympic Committee (MPC) president James Chiutsi is the Sports Administrator of the Year while Para-Sport Against Stigma was the Best Executed Sports Programme.
Hanna Winesi and Mphatso Saukire won the Sportswoman and Sportsman with disabilities respectively while and Luke Chimwemwe Smit won the Junior Sports Person of the Year.
The Best Sports District of the Year was Karonga with Mibawa Television being honoured as the Best Sports Media House of the Year. Out of the 16 awards, eight went to football — National Team of the Year, Sports Personality of the Year, Coach of the Year, Junior Female Sports Person of the Year, Sports Woman of the Year, Non-Citizen, Best Referee and Sports Association.
In his speech, Vice-President, Saulos Chilima emphasised the importance of embracing sports as a substantial business opportunity for Malawi, saying sports is a big business and can be used to generate financial resources for the sports sector as well as the country’s economy through talent export.
Chilima announcing the overall winner
Some of the guests at the Gala
Artist Lawi and traditional dancers entertaining the guests
He thus urged corporate companies to step forward and support sports by offering sponsorship and advertising opportunities, envisioning the awards ceremony as a flagship event in Africa.
He affirmed Malawi government’s commitment to investing in sports development and nurturing young talent to ensure their competitiveness on international platforms.
“Sports represents a nation’s culture, talent and pride,” he said. It is essential to invest in its advancement to achieve and surpass our goals.
“Every country is known for its culture, talent, and skills. Sports is a main source of pride hence nations are investing a lot to achieve and surpass their goals.”
Chilima commended the Malawi National Council of Sports for organising the event and pledged to woo more support for the awards next year.
Minister of Sports, Uchizi Mkandawire also applauded the Sports Council for managing the awards in a professional manner for five consecutive years, except a year break at the peak of the CoVID-19 pandemic.
Sports Council chairperson, Sunduzwayo Madise said the awards Gala, which dates back to 2017, was established to help in advancement of sports in the country.
Madise acknowledged huge support from the Vice-President in sports matters and extended an appeal to more Malawians to support and promote sports in the country.
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