BTTA drills athletes for World Champs
The 2023 ITTF World Table Tennis Championships Finals will be staged in Durban. It will be a historic first time that the ITTF’s most prestigious event is being held in
South Africa and the first time on the African continent since Cairo, Egypt, in 1939.
Durban 2023 World Championships qualifiers will commence through the Region 5 Tournament and top 8 singles together with top 2 teams will qualify for the continental multi sport Africa Games next year. The Africa Games will be used as the actual qualifiers for Durban 2023 World Championships.
Speaking this week, Botswana Table Tennis Association ( BTTA) Vice Publicity Secretary, Arthur Kgaswe said they are looking to local players playing at the World Table Tennis Championships next year.
“Competition for the games will be stiff through the qualifiers but our target is to at least have two participants at the world stage, a female and a male if possible,” he stressed.
Recently, the BTTA has kept the athletes sharp and competitive by organizing local tournaments which include the league, that has kept players on their toes and maintained their fitness while also serving as a stage for growth and improvement.
“The growth of our players is pleasing and we are certain we will be able to tap into the international scene and actually compete for better results.
These competitions have made the players much better and we see a lot of improvements,” he added.
Local athletes have been going to high performance centres in China to try and catch up to the rest of the world in the sport.
Local athletes will be inspired by Nigeria’s Quadri Aruna, who became the first player from Africa to gain a top 10 men’s world ranking recently.
Most African players will be excited about the fact that this championship will become one of the most important and ‘ a must see event’ in the global calendar and also staged on African soil, they will want to dominate and leave a mark at the tourney.
Tshenolo Mooketsi, Bokang Maloka, Boago Malobela and Sean Dekop are some of the athletes who have given the country hope and expect them to grace the event.
Meanwhile, in the ladies category, Tshepiso Rebatenne, Constance Kuswane and Olerato Ramagapu can represent the country at the event, given their recent showing during the Phoenix Assurance Super League and other local tournaments.