BONA eager to honour international invites
Botswana Netball Association ( BONA), has submitted a letter to Botswana National Sports Commission ( BNSC) on Wednesday, requesting for funding to honour international invitations. The senior national team has been invited to two international tournaments, Africa Netball and Pent series, which are set to be held in October and November 2021 in Namibia. Treated as an urgent matter by BONA exco, the executive board of Africa Netball has given invited member associations until today ( Friday) to issue a response on participation confirmation.
While the confirmation deadline for the Pent Series is the 20th of this month. In a letter sent to BONA, Africa Netball have made it clear that the associations will be responsible their own accommodation, financial contributions towards umpires, transport and meals costs. With less than 48 hours left to finalize the decision, BNSC and BONA were on Wednesday racing against time to reach an agreement.
“Upon receiving the invite to the tournaments, we gathered as BONA and decided that we must attend these games. We have since sent a letter to BNSC to ask for funds,” BONA Public
Relations Officer, Mokeresete Mokeresete stated. In March earlier this year, BONA failed in their attempt to compete at another Pent Series event after BNSC cited lack of funds to sponsor
their trip. The Sport governing body recently launched a new model on funds allocation for affiliates and members must also present their long term objectives for participation in various
competitions before they could be funded. BONA mouthpiece described the need to partake at the upcoming tournaments as ‘ imperative’, failing which, the association could face serious penalties from the African Netball governing body. “If we fail to attend the Africa Cup tournament, we will face heavy penalties and again, these games will help us to prepare for the world cup qualifiers next year, which are likely to be held in South Africa. It is imperative that we partake in these games,” he said. The senior national netball team last competed at the invitational Nations Cup held in Singapore in 2019.
Their inactivity has put a dent in efforts to improve their world netball rankings and therefore the upcoming games are viewed by the association as a perfect opportunity to close the gap. “It has been a long lay- off, the two tournaments can also help us improve our rankings and this is important. We are currently ranked 27th in the world; if we perform better at these games, we can improve our rankings. Rankings are important, for example, only 12 top ranked teams qualify for the Commonwealth games. We are hopeful that BNSC will approve our proposal,” Mokeresete explained. The association is also expecting to conclude negotiations with potential technical sponsors ahead of the games, according to close sources. The Pent Series tournament will be held in Windhoek, Namibia from the 31st October- 5th November 2021. Invitations for Pent Series have been extended to Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Botswana, Kenya and Uganda.