Second ranking tournament of the year
LETLHOGILE MPUANG
Botswana Table Tennis Association (BTTA) says they are going all out in their preparations for the upcoming Jwaneng Open Table Tennis Championship. BTTA have struggled with hosting competitions this year as a result of inactiveness of some of the members of the association’s Executive Committee.
Affiliates (clubs) have also been fingered for failing to stage tournaments (only two clubs have been able to host competitions). In their bid to keep players more active, BTTA will host their second ranking tournament of the year. It is billed for the 29-30th September in Jwaneng, and is being described as the biggest competition of the year by the organizers.
In an interview with Gazette Sport, the tournament’s Secretary Tshepo Modisane said preparations were at an advanced stage and they were hopeful of securing a sponsor in the next couple of days. “Preparations for the tournament have began, and we are at an advanced stage. The halls have been booked and registration will soon be opening,” Modisane told Gazette Sport.
“We are going all out in preparing for this tournament, it is the biggest competition we have hosted this year and we are also hoping that the players are also busy preparing. We are also hopeful of securing a sponsor for the tournament soon. We believe that maybe this week we would have reached an agreement with the prospective sponsor,” he added.
He further said the tournament has also attracted the attention of players in the neighbouring countries, who frequently call to make enquiries. “Like I said, this is the biggest tournament that we hosting this year, and remember that it is the second ranking competition we have had. We have been frequently receiving calls from people outside the country, mostly from our neighbouring countries who are interested in participating in the event. From the male side we are expecting to have more than 100 male participants, while in the women section we are hoping to have more women compared to the last tournament we had. As one might be aware, the participation of women in sport is a challenge, but we have come up with a campaign that seeks to recruit more women and it is being done by our marketing team. In terms of registration, we will sometime this week open our registration which will close on 28th September. Players who register on 29 September will be regraded under late registration and will be fined P50,” concluded the tournament’s Secretary.
Meanwhile, he revealed that there are a lot of new developments taking place behind the scenes at BTTA. He said that they were currently in talks with a broadcasting company that will televise some of their activities. He says this will contribute a lot in terms of raising funds for the association.