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| Sports |
| FMB cements bond with squash |
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by
Oris Chimenya, 13 December 2006
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09:03:32
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Squash Malawi on Monday was at a loss for words to express its gratitude to First Merchant Bank which cemented its bond with the sports body by increasing sponsorship for the 2006 Malawi Open from last year’s K250,000 to K350,000.
Squash Malawi general secretary Edward Mponda said he did not take the sponsorship for granted having enjoyed the romance with the banking institution for four years now.
“We don’t take this for granted and we appreciate this effort. The bank has really shown that it cares for the sport and we want to assure it that we will do our best to remain transparent and accountable to it on the use of its funds and resources,” said Mponda.
He also said with such sponsorship they have managed to introduce youth training programmes in the country. Currently there are 20 youth players benefiting from the programmes.
FMB marketing manager George Kamvulumvulu said his bank, which won the London-based Banker Magazine Award for ‘Bank of the year’ in 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2005, was proud to be associated with social work in the country.
“This year the bank has also donated over K1 million worth of bursaries to about 100 needy scholars from secondary to university levels,” he said, adding that the College of Medicine in Blantyre is also one of the beneficiaries following the bank’s construction of a K30 million 42-bedroom hostel in 2004.
This year’s championship will be played in Lilongwe from next week from Friday to Sunday.
But it will roll into action without defending champion Zambian Kelvin Ndhlovu who was the only international player in last year’s tournament. This year the tournament is not open to foreigners.
Squash Malawi director of tournaments Chikumbutso Nkutumula said the development is aimed at giving a chance to local players to flourish.
In the men’s A division the winner will get K30,000, the runner-up K20,000 while the third-placed player will get K15,000.
In the women’s division the champion will walk away with K20,000, the runner-up K15,000 while the third-placed player will get K12,000.
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