The Sunday News
Mehluli Sibanda, Senior Sports Reporter
NEWLY-elected Squash Federation Africa (SFA) president, Lucky Mlilo believes his election to the most post powerful position on the continent in the sport will benefit Zimbabwe in the long run.
Mlilo was on 28 May chosen as the new SFA president to take over a post that was left vacant following the death of Egyptian Hany Hamouda last year. He received 15 of the 18 votes cast, with each of his challengers getting one vote each. Mlilo was up against Boye Oyerinde of Nigeria, Adrian Wehrli (Mauritius) and Khaled El Agroudy of Egypt By virtue of being president of SFA, Mlilo is now a board member of the World Squash Federation (WSF).
“It means quite a lot for Zimbabwe, being at the helm of Squash Africa, what it means is that I preside over all the squash matters of the continent and we are looking at 54 countries, obviously not all countries do play squash. We do have 30 countries that are quite active, our mandate is look at those countries that are not playing squash so that we introduce the sport,’’ Mlilo said.
The 56-year old Mlilo is looking to use his proximity to the decision makers at the WSF for the benefit of Zimbabwe.
“I know the challenges we have in Zimbabwe and this is the opportune time for me to take advantage of the relationship that I have, I am close to the World Squash Federation. I should be able to take advantage of being closer to the headquarters,’’ said Mlilo.
The Bulawayo based business executive and consultant had served as SFA vice president for eight years. He put down his election to some groundwork that he had done over the years when he was one of the vice presidents.
“It was quite strategic the way worked it out but I would also say that my groundwork has been over the years, I have interacted with a number of countries, the likes of Eswatini, Uganda, Zanzibar. It has been a long journey, it just didn’t start now but when the opportunity came for presidency I thought being a vice president for eight years, that was the right opportunity, I grabbed it, hence that relationship I have with all these countries, this is why I got all those votes,’’ Mlilo said.
Squash, just like all other sports were affected by the suspension of sporting activity last year and at the beginning of 2021. Mlilo said when sport was given the green light to resume in March, they could not hold the junior competitions because the dates has passed.
“We were in active from March until November when we were allowed to resume activities, that was short lived because were again suspended in January. As of March, this year, we have been allowed to resume activities.
“Unfortunately, when we look at our juniors calendar, we do have the Matabeleland and Mashonaland and Zimbabwe Junior Championships played in February and March so when we were given the authority to resume, we could not hold those championships,’’ he said.
Last year, the Zimbabwe Open Squash Championship did not take place because the Covid-19 pandemic and in 2021, it looks like it will not be held again for the same reasons.
“The premier event we have on an annual basis is the Zimbabwe Open which takes place in August but looking at the time frame, that needs a long time in terms of preparations, its unlikely that we will have the Zimbabwe Open this year.”
Next year is however, looking promising with Zimbabwe to host the All Africa Senior Championships as well as the WSF annual general meeting in Victoria Falls.
“What we’ve done is we are now concentrating on 2022 where intend to host the All Africa Senior Championship, it could be in Harare or Bulawayo. We are also going to host the World Squash Federation AGM in Vic Falls next year,’’ said Mlilo.
On his immediate task as the new SFA boss, Mlilo indicated that their focus was on aligning the constitution in line with the WSF vision and mission. Setting up sub committees is another issue that Mlilo and his executive are looking to address. — @Mdawini_29.
