The UNIMA team, which was led by the UMSSA Vice President, Dr. Y. Ndasauka only did well in Athletics where they won 10 gold, 10 silver and 1 bronze medals and fairly in netball where they came third.

Speaking soon after arrival, UMSSA General Secretary (GS) Thokozani Bodza Mbewe explained  that  the performance was below par due to poor preparations coupled with a number of players failing to travel due to lack of funds as funds were inadequate.

“It is our hope that the Technical Committee should take the leading role in identifying players during the inter-varsity games that we have locally, as well as organizing camps before departure to the games,” Mbewe explained.

The GS further requested that universities should invest in these games since athletes go out there to play hence it is the flag of the university that is raised and as such, university managements should shoulder the expenses. 

“They should be in the know that the tournaments have lots of games therefore, restricting to having only say one team for football is a non-starter. We travel long distances and fatigue cripple in plus injuries, hence the need to have rich squads that can perform,” he added.

Captain of the Volleyball team Noel Chavula shared the same sentiments that reliable players did not travel so the teams had difficulties to win games.

He added that there is need for players from the universities to train together for some time so that they should get used  to playing as a team.

The team left Malawi for Zimbabwe on the 30th November and arrived on 1st December. The games started on a Monday, the 2nd December and finished on 6th. We left Zimbabwe for Malawi on a Saturday, the 7th December and arrived on the same day.