P10 000 each, gold medals and trophies are the reward for the hard work of the volleyball men and women of Botswana Police Service
GAZETTE REPORTER
Both men and women Police volleyball teams were crowned champions of the Liquid Open Volleyball Tournament after their exceptional performance at the weekend’s final played at Molepolole Institute of Health Sciences (IHS) indoor courts on Saturday.
The final pitted a total of eight teams against one another for third, second and first positions for the prestigious inaugural tournament that was sponsored by Liquid Technologies to the tune of P200 000.
Popularly known as “Ditau,” Police VI men put up a brilliant performance against their bitter rivals, Kutlwano in the finals to win with three straight sets (3-0).
They dominated all three sets with a narrow victory of (25-21, 25-21 and 25-15) to clinch the title. Kutlwano, better known as “Big House” looked sharp in the first set but Ditau blunted their endeavour through their hard hitting opposite, Happy Ribin, who guided his team to yet another silverware of the year after their return to play tournament victory early this year.
In a post-match interview with the captain of Police VI, Ribin told Gazette Sports that they were happy with their victory even though they did not get any serious challenge from any one of their opponents right from the beginning.
“We are of course happy that we have won the title and filling our trophy cabinet to the maximum but I would say we were not challenged much by any team,” he said.
“The tournament was very easy for us. We had expected teams like BDF VI and Kutlwano to give us some competition but none was forthcoming. But we are happy that we have gave the Under 20 boys much needed practice prior to the Region 5 Games and where we want to see them do well.
“I have been made to understand that most of the teams had rusted because of the long absence of the national league and regular tournaments, but our team has been organising friendly games just to keep ourselves fit and busy, which helped us win the cup.”’
Similarly, the captain of Police women’s team, Lebani Ntelecha said they were pitted against tough teams with experienced players in the group stages but fought all the way to the finals were they beat Mafolofolo 3-2 (25-18,21-25,22-25,25-14,15-7)
“The ladies contest included all the teams and no one wanted to remain behind,” she said. “We fought hard for our spot in the finals. We know that if we eliminated Mafolofolo and Kutlwano, our journey would become simpler because we were wary of the threat posed ahead of the games.
“I am very happy for my girls. They put up a very beautiful show and we won this as a unit. We believe we can go far if we continue working hard and playing as a team the way we did over the weekend. We will become the most feared team in the upcoming tournaments.”
For their hard work and victories, both Police volleyball teams with P10 000 each, gold medals and trophies.
Kutlwano women settled for a bronze after beating BDF women 3-2 while BDF men won bronze after defeating Matimela 3-1.