National Gendaball Association (NAGA) Publicity and Marketing Manager Japheth Thole has appealed for support from the corporate world for the sport to spread across the country.
Thole made the call during the Insurance Institute of Malawi (IIM) Annual Sports day held on Saturday at Blantyre Sports Club.
In the interview Thole said despite gendaball being a new sport in the country, people are loving it.
“As you know gendaball is a new sport discipline in Malawi and it has not clocked even a decade but people have started loving it. This is commendable.
“Our wish now is for the government and companies in the country to come in and support it so that it can spread across the country as is the case with football and netball. Companies can come in with any amount even five hundred thousand and we can host a tournament for them. We have the potential to do so and the only setback now is the sponsorship,” said Thole.
Thole said gendaball is not discriminatory like other sports disciplines in the country and this provides an opportunity for companies to easily reach out to their targeted audience.
“This is the only sport where everyone; the father, mother, grandmother, children and people with physical disability can play together.
“This sport also teaches people to focus in real life. To win, the only secret for this sport is for a player/team to always remain focused when playing,” said Thole.
Gendaball was invented in 2013 by Francis Mwalabu. The name gendaball comes from two words:- “genda” which means “throw” in the Chichewa language, which is the most widely spoken language in Malawi and the English word “ball.”
It is played using a soft ball, slightly bigger than the size of a tennis ball, which is thrown directly onto a board, comprising 16 holes of varying sizes and point-values. The ball is thrown from a playing court comprising 10 throw stations, grouped at four distance levels from the board.
It is a game of target-shooting which is fiercely competitive, but gentle and smart in its play execution. Players compete by aiming the ball at holes of their choice and accumulating points based on the value of the targeted holes and the value of the distance levels.
The game has a total of 42 shots and can yield a maximum of 61 200 points.
