Malawi Handball Association (Maha) says poor infrastructure is hindering the revival of the sport in Malawi which almost died a decade ago.

Maha developmental coach Sam Dulana, who was in the technical panel that guided the female Under-19 squad to win silver medals at the just-ended International Handball Federation Challenge Cup staged in South Africa, said they could have won the gold medal if they were used to playing on the synthetic surface.

As the women side was celebrating winning the silver medal, the male Under-20 squad finished fourth after losing to Zimbabwe 17-22 in the third place play off.

In their opening matches, the female side defeated Zimbabwe 25-21 while the men team went down to Mozambique 48-12.

The women squad went on to defeat South Africa 31-20 and Lesotho 31-11 before succumbing in the final against Mozambique.

The Under-20 men squad recovered from their opening setback to beat Zimbabwe 30-21 before losing in the semifinal to South Africa 28-14.

Dulana said both teams could have won gold medals if they were used to playing on synthetic court.

"With proper infrastructure we could have done much better," Dulana said. "For the men team it was the first time they played under such type of a court while for the ladies it was the second time.

"This is perhaps the reason that allowed the women to get silver medals," he said.

Maha vice president Misheck Munthali also asked the corporate world to assist government in supporting minority sports.

"During the tournament we learnt from our colleagues that Zimbabwe's major sponsor is a private farmer," he said. "Similarly we should not rely on government only but other independent organisations."

During the tournament Veronica Sagwati and Coreta Doxen were Malawi's female squads top scorers.

Since 2006, Maha has been trying to revive the sport which was facing a natural death.

The association has been establishing structures in the three regions where they also held coaching and officiation courses.