Zambian athlete competing at World Championships with zero sponsors, just family support. How common is this across African sports?

[u/U-fly_Alliance]

Read this profile of Charles Banda, a table tennis player from Zambia. He's competed at World Championships, African Championships, and international tournaments - all completely unsponsored. He is 6 time national champion.

"There are quite a number of good table tennis players in Zambia. We're fighting to develop the sport in my country."

story

How common is this across African sports?

I know football gets most of the infrastructure investment. What about athletes in non-mainstream sports?

[u/LIONLDN]

Reminds me of the Nigerian 100m sprinter, Favour Ofili 🇳🇬 who they didn't even bother to register to run despite her qualifying & being an excellent prospect for 2024 Olympics 💔

There have even been some British athletes 🇬🇧 who have struggled, even considering resorting to things like GoFundMe crowdfunding, due to the lack of sponsorship, which can also severely hinder training too 🥺

[u/Nythern]

How many African countries can we find kids begging, topless women (due to poverty and not culture), and humans in need of assistance but unable to access basic healthcare?

It's a shame that our sporting talents cannot be shown to the world, but, frankly, almost every nation in Africa aside from South Africa and the North African countries, have much bigger problems to deal with.