BTA tournaments hit a snag
Botswana Tennis Association’s ( BTA) plans to host a number of International Tennis Federation ( ITF) rated tournament have hit a snag due to Covid- 19 pandemic. Prior to the pandemic, BTA had planned to host a couple of ITF junior tournaments but due to closure of borders and travel restrictions, it was impossible. BTA had plans to host three ITF Under 18 Grade 5 and two Grade 4 junior tournaments during October and November as well as ITF Women’s & Men’s Professional tournament.
According to BTA president, Oaitse Thipe, due to the pandemic the work that they had already put in preparation for the events have gone to waste.“We had plans to host a couple of international tournaments this year such that we give our players
the chance to compete with the best athletes. At the moment we are planning ahead of time, so we have sent a request to ITF proposing that we host the Under 18 tournaments for Grade 5 level, provided borders will be open. We also had the intention to have international coaching course equivalent to level 2 which was affected after the tutor couldn’t make it due to travel restrictions,” said Thipe.
Though the chance to host this year might be gone, Thipe said all is not lost since they are engaging ITF with a proposal to host the competitions early February. “We have been affected greatly because players are not able to go in and out of the country.
There are some players who are based in South Africa where the level of competition is a bit better and they had to return home. But on a positive note, we were able to review a number of our programmes so we have been
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able to host high level training camps • in Francistown and Gaborone • and revising our local programmes,” • he said •
Meanwhile, Thipe said they have
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kept in touch with foreign based players and made sure they get adequate help in this Covid- 19 times. BTA has the likes of Tshepo Mosarwa, Bonolo Molefe, Nthabiseng Mogopodi based in USA while Ekua Youri, Naledi Raguin and Tshegofatso Tsiang are based in Spain, France and South Africa respectively. During this pandemic time, players have been getting financial assistance in the form of relief funds from government.“We keep in touch with all our players playing college tennis out there. Some have partial scholarships and some are assisted by us through BNSC. Looking at budget limitations we have other players in Spain who we continue engaging relevant bodies such as BNSC such that they are assisted,” he said.