By Tawonga Moyo
Jenda Police Station Football Team, Wednesday walked away with K300,000.00 afteremerging football champions in the 2023 Northern Region Police Commissioner’s (Compol)Trophy after defeating Northern Region Police Headquarters (NRPH) Football Team 1-0 at Katoto Community Day Secondary School Ground in Mzuzu.
In the Netball and Volleyball categories, Mzuzu Police Station emerged champions and pocketed K150,000 and K100,000 respectively whilst NRPH was a star in tag of war but had no value attached to it,
The trophy which was launched on June 22, 2023 and all police stations across the region participated in the initiative.
In an interview, Commissioner of Police responsible for the north, Noel Mlowoka Kaira said the trophy was one way of ensuring police officers that they are always fit whilst discharging their duties.
“Police needs officers that are disciplined, sharp minded and physically fit. These games help to promote such human elements. Besides that, we promoted coexistence and collaboration between civilians and the law enforcers,” said Kaira.
Director of Sports in the Malawi Police Service (MPS), Audrey Makonyola said the trophy has unearthed hidden talents within the service besides providing room for recovery after experiencing defeats for years at the hands of Malawi Defence Force teams.
“The trophy necessitated all our police stations within the region to train hard to stand out by the end the initiative. So in this way, different talents emerge at both district and regional levels,” said Makonyola.
Makonyola said the final competition will be the Police Inspector General’s Trophy which will see nine teams from each region compete for the grand finale which is scheduled to take place in Lilongwe.
“The final trophy will provide an opportunity for national football, netball and volleyball teams to identify talent within theMalawi Police Service,” he said.
The day was also spiced by 100, 200, 400, 600 and 800 meter marathons and Paul Nyirenda from Mzimba Police Station scooped position one in the 800-meter marathon.
Nyirenda then took advantage of the event to appeal to the Inspector General of Police to consider introducing more competitions in the trophy in future.
The event which was held under the theme ‘Quality service for improved livelihood for the people of the Northern Region,’ was sponsored by MPS, Malawi Police Sacco, Northern Region Water Board and Medical Aid Society of Malawi (MASM).