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LILONGWE. — African Union Sport Council (AUSC) Region 5 officials were in Malawi at the weekend to assess the country’s preparedness ahead of Youth Games slated for December 2 to 11 in Lilongwe.

AUSC Region 5 Chief Executive Officer, Stanley Mutoya of Zimbabwe, was leading the officials on their tour of duty.

While in the country, the officials assessed facilities earmarked to host the games.

In addition, the officials met local federations of sporting disciplines such as football, swimming, volleyball, basketball, athletics and tennis.

They also toured Griffin Saenda Sports Complex (GSSC) and Aquatic Sports Complex (both under construction), Bingu National Stadium (BNS), Africa Bible College (ABC) and Civo Stadium.

GSSC is expected to host netball and volleyball whereas BNS and Civo Stadium are earmarked to host athletics and football.

ABC and Civo courts are expected to host basketball.

The officials expressed satisfaction with Malawi’s level of preparedness ahead of the games.

However, they also noted some grey areas in the case of some infrastructure, recommending that facilities such as Civo and ABC courts be improved to international standards.

On the Aquatic Sports Complex, the officials noted that there was good progress but advised the contractors to speed up construction works to meet the September deadline.

Speaking after the inspection exercise, Mutoya said he was impressed with the preparations.

“We are optimistic that Malawi will be a successful host of the games. There will from the Malawi Government and we are happy with the work that has been done,” he said.

Since last year, the officials have been visiting Malawi to assess the level of preparedness for the Games.

Over 3 500 athletes and officials are expected to be in the country for the Games from various Southern African countries.

The athletes will compete in sporting codes such as athletics, volleyball, football and basketball.

In fact, Malawi is racing against time to ensure all sports venues are in shape ahead of 2022 Africa Union Sports Council Region 5 Games slated for December 2-11 in Lilongwe.

Region 5 experts inspected all the venues including Bingu National (BNS), Civo, Silver and Nankhaka stadiums, the Griffin Saenda Sports Complex and Aquatic Sports Complex that have been earmarked to host the event.

The delegation included Zimbabwe’s seasoned sports administrator and international sport expert, Tommy Sithole, Nigerian gamer Sayo Awolabi of the Global Esports Federation, and Council of Southern Africa Football Association General Secretary, Sue Destombes.

As part of the event, Malawi will host Under-17 Cosafa Championship, which will be used as qualifiers for next year’s TotalErnegies Africa Youth Championship.

BNS has been earmarked to host the opening and closing ceremony of the event.

Civo and Silver stadiums are expected to host boys and girls football.

While briefing the officials from Malawi government, which included Director of Sports in Ministry of Youth and Sports Jameson Ndalama, the experts said the two facilities need serious renovations to be certified fit to host the games. — The Times.