BTTA ends season in style
Two players, across gender, walked away with P31000 each in the just ended Phoenix Independence Tournament.
The Botswana Table Tennis Association ( BTTA) has been one of the most active and consistent sports associations amid the COVID- 19 pandemic, having completed their season this past weekend with the Phoenix Independence Tournament played in Gaborone.
As the association drew down the curtain to their season, assistant Public Relations officer, Arthur Kgaswane said they have had a vexing season but they however managed to beat the pandemic and complete their season.
He noted that the season has been vexing and frustrating since other tournaments were rescheduled and there was a stop start procedure due to COVID- 19.
“Our mandate has been to take the game to the people but we had to bend over backwards due to the challenges brought by Covid- 19; the tournament we had planned across the country had to be cancelled so now it seemed as if the sport is just Gaborone based.” In addition, he said the grassroots table tennis initiative was also affected because they could not traverse the country to scout young upcoming talent since schools were closed. Kgaswane said
they have learnt a lot from the impacts of the pandemic and now they understand the future isn’t guaranteed. “We are planning to have funds saved for such circumstances because we had to go above our budget paying SHE Officers and testing players.”
Although it has been a tough era, he noted that the lessons were very important and they helped them grow as a sport. Speaking on the just concluded season, Kgaswane had this to say: “It was a good tournament, the players
displayed character and skill, they didn’t show any signs of being rusty despite the fact that they were interrupted by the sport ban every now and then.” Bakang Maloka was the Phoenix Assurance Botswana Independence Grand- Finale Champion as he walked away with a P31 000.00 prize money while in the ladies category, Tshepiso Rebatene won her second successive Phoenix Assurance BOTSWANA Independence Grand- Finale as she also walked away with P31 000.00.