Athletics coach Francis Munthali has said the recently launched district sports officers’ (DSOs) sports initiative for the Eastern Region will help to unearth hidden talent.

Munthali’s sentiments come barely a week after DSOs from Zomba, Phalombe, Machinga, Chiradzulu, Ntcheu and Balaka held an inaugural athletics tournament at Chancellor College’s Chirunga Stadium in Zomba.

He told YFM Online that through such initiatives, athletes are identified at an early stage and are sharpened to become better national team ambassadors at international level.

Said Munthali: “I developed interest in athletics while I was young. I represented Malawi at an international competition when I was a teenager. It is through such initiatives that athletes are identified.”

In his remarks, Zomba DSO Daniel Mzungu said they decided to introduce the sports initiative in order to uplift the standards of different sports codes, starting with athletics.

“We set aside an amount from our monthly funding. We could not manage to hold events at district level because our funding is not enough. So, we held meetings where we came up with contributions from various DSOs for this inaugural activity,” he said.

Malawi National Council of Sports acting regional sports officer (Southern Region), Felix Yola, advised the DSOs to put in place measures that will help to sustain the initiative.

Female athletes from Kasupe Athletics Club of Machinga dominated the event in 100, 400 and 800 meters in girls’ category.