BTTA eyes 2023 World Championships
TABLE TENNIS
In their endeavor to challenge for glory at the 2023 South Africa World Championships, Botswana Table Tennis Association have sent 19 year old Sean Dekop to Yaounde, Cameroon where he will compete in the Africa Senior Championship. BTTA earmarked under 21 players to compete at the games which will also give them a good opportunity to qualify for Commonwealth games in Birmingham next year.
“We have sent a team that we believe can challenge for honours; we want to dominate regionally, continentally and compete at global stage,” BTTA President, Kudzanani Motswagole said.
According to the BTTA President, funds permitting, their wish was to send at least eight ( 8) athletes, but under the current environment of COVID- 19 that was not possible. He however noted that the camp in Cameroon will greatly benefit the future intensions of the association. “There was lack of resources and funds, we had to improvise, but the team we sent there will benefit a lot, there will be a week long international high performance camp before going into the competition. We have sent a team which we believe will learn from this tournament,” Motswagole highlighted. At 19, Dekop is a talent that is expected to compete for the next 10 years and beyond. The BTTA President said they are building for the future and positioning their athletes for global opportunities. Motswagole revealed their long term plans and said: “We want to ready them to play abroad, we want to improve their ITTF ( International Table Tennis Federation) rankings at a young age. No matter how good you are, international clubs will not consider you if your rankings are low. We want to invest in them, we want to build them, and we want them to compete for the next decade.”
With the country yet to produce a world class official, the association has sent to Cameroon, local umpire Ritah Sebele for a blue badge course, a qualification which will give her international participation. Motswagole said development of officials will allow the country to host major competitions which will in return enhance development and competitiveness. “We currently don’t have blue badge umpires, she’ll be the first.
International competitiveness of officials improves the level of competition for our players and coaches. South Africa will host world championships in 2023; we want to have at least 3- 4 officials representing the country there. We want to benefit from having our neighbours as the host of Table tennis global games,” Motswagole said. The Independence Grand Finale tournament was powered by Phoenix Assurance Group Botswana to the tune of P70 000. Motswagole said, should government lift suspension of competitive sports, the event will return bigger and better this year, with the winner set to walk away with P30 000.