LUSAKA, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- Football Association of Malawi (FAM) Monday finally pulled out of 2008 Beijing Olympics after failing to raise the 7 million kwacha (50,000 U.S. dollars) needed for the second round, first leg match against Zambia scheduled for next month, Nation Online of Malawi reported Tuesday.

    FAM president Walter Nyamilandu said Monday that even after extending the cutoff point by a week, the soccer gods could still not smile at the cash-strapped association.

    "We were hoping for a miracle...that a silver lining would appear on the dark cloud hovering over the Under-23s participation in the tournament but it seems there is no light at the end of the tunnel and we'll be sending a letter of withdrawal to both CAF and FIFA today," he said.

    Nyamilandu said FAM cannot go on hoping against all odds because FIFA needs to be given sufficient notice of withdrawal.

    "If we delay further then we risk a heavy punishment because Zambia can complain that they have spent a lot of money on preparations and can therefore ask for reimbursement," he said referring to his Zambian counterpart Teddy Mulonga 's statement that the Football Association of Zambia will continue with its preparations for Malawi despite FAM's intention to pull out.

    The FAM leader also said the association presented a 19 million kwacha budget for the cause to Sports Council hoping that the government would bail them out.

    "The total budget for the Under-23, including the first assignment in the group stages was coming up to 19 million kwacha and we presented that to the government but there has been no response," he said.

    He said that "My main worry is that we are recruiting a (Flames) coach who will sit idle because his first task would have been the Olympics tournament.

    "He will just come here to make easy money because if we cannot raise money for such an important tournament, I do not see how we are going to fulfil the remaining Africa Nations Cup qualifiers against Morocco and Zimbabwe. The total amount needed for all these assignments is 41 million kwacha," said Nyamilandu.

    Last week Nyamilandu said FAM risks a fine of not less that 1.4million kwacha should it withdraw from the Beijing tournament.

    Only Zambia stand in Malawi's way in the quest to qualify for the group stages of the competition.