BADMINTON TEAM IN SHAKY START
Despite the difficult start at the All Africa Badminton games, the local team managed to get back into gear during the course of the ongoing All Africa U19 Badminton tournament ; however, the recent COVID-19 scare at the games might have slacked their progress a bit.
The tournament started over the weekend in Benin, and Kick started with the team event at the ongoing Badminton continental showpiece.
Botswana lost 0-5 to South Africa, 0-5 against Mauritius, 1-4 against hosts Benin and finally won 3-2 against Burkina Faso in a tough group. “We finished fourth in the group and we are confident the individual events will be a lot different,” said Botswana Badminton Association (BBA) Secretary General, Thuso Mudongo.
Meanwhile, in the other group, Egypt and Uganda progress to the semi-finals with Ghana; while Burundi and Niger finishing in third and forth respectively.
The individual events started on Monday, and even though Team Botswana did their best, playing their hearts out through out. it was not enough to write home about.
In the boys singles category, Oreemetse Sedietso lost 5-21, 6-2 against an Egyptian opponent; Pakarae Marenga lost 6-21, 3-21 against an opponent from Burkina Faso.
In the boys doubles, Sedietso and Marenga lost 2-21 and 6-21 to South Africa, cutting short their lifespan in the ongoing tournament. In the girls doubles, Kesego Hamo and Kelebogile Mongunda lost 15-21 and 11-21 against Benin.
“All is not lost, we have the girls singles contender, Kelebogile Mongunda in the last 16 and will be playing for a place in the quarterfinals.”
The mixed double pair of Oreemetse Sedietso and Kelebogile Mongunda, who have sailed through Benin 21-13 and 21-10 into the last 16 and will play for a place in the quarterfinals.
“We have been optimistic of the performance, we keep believing and hoping that they will do better especially when they progress and grow in the sport.”
Nonetheless, the tournament has been delayed with several individuals testing positive, however, Mudongo said the team is still awaiting their test results. “We are perfectly fine and keeping the bubble Protocols, while we are awaiting our results.”
Despite the delay in the tournament, Mudongo said the morale was okay during the delay, “but the girls singles, Kelebogile Mongunda is a bit uneasy, I think because she is playing against Mauritius. So she is a bit anxious but she will be okay.”
Kelebogile Mongunda has since lost to Mauritius 15-21 10-21, following the restart of the tournament on Tuesday.