WOMAN POWER
Poane to umpire at Tokyo Olympics
A few months after officiating at the Australian Open qualifiers at the Qatar Open, local tennis empire Gaone Poane is destined for a much bigger task ahead. The 33- year- old, Poane has been invited to officiate at the upcoming Olympics, slated for Tokyo from the 23rd of July until the 8th of August.
An International Tennis Federation ( ITF) white badge umpire, Poane is not new to officiating at high profile tournaments as she has already been to events such as Africa Games, Africa Youth Games and Australian Open qualifiers. Securing a slot at the Olympics is a giant leap in her illustrious career which looks promising at this point.
“I’m excited to be going to the Tokyo Summer Olympics and the fact that I’m enjoying support from Botswana Tennis Association and ITF makes everything even better. They have been supporting my career from the onset and it has been growing in leaps and bounds. It’s such an honour and I’m excitedly looking forward to the trip, it feels like this is the biggest tournament of my career,” said Poane, in a statement released by BTA.
Poane has been umpiring since 2016 and mostly handling Grand Slam qualifiers. In March last year, she officiated at the 2020 Wimbledon qualifiers. Poane joins the likes of Dorothy Okatch, Mpho Bakwadi and Emmanuel Kgaboetsile who have officiated at the highest level in basketball, karate and badminton, respectively.
This year alone the Palapye native has already officiated at the 2021 Australian Open qualifiers as well as two other ITF rated professional tournaments in South Africa in March. Next month she is set to officiate at the Billy Jean Cup in Lithuania.
According to BTA president, Oaitse Thipe, to show their support and commitment to
Poane’s efforts, they have reached out to the Botswana National Olympic Committee ( BNOC) to push for the 33 - year- old to be vaccinated prior to the Olympic games. “This means a lot, it shows that sports can provide stable employment, it’s an inspiration to young girls growing up to pick up a racket and establish a career in tennis,” he said.
Thipe further indicated that the Federation has deliberate programmes aimed at producing the likes of Poane, by availing to them training opportunities and playing platforms.
“In 2019, we hosted about 30 local and regional officials going through level 1 course. Last year in November we partnered with ITF to have a refreshing course for 12 local officials and we subsequently hosted a number of local tournaments in 2020 to give them a chance to earn a living and taste real action,” explained Thipe.