Ping-pong emerges as the new cash cow
In a setting where there are limited cash avenues in local sport, table tennis has emerged among the few rewarding options. Most youngsters with sporting dreams will want to be like their favourite footballer earning a contract with one of the country’s well-paying clubs, or getting a job beyond the country’s shores.
One would want to be like local track heroes and rake thousands of cash on athletics’ tracks across the world. Football and athletics are the country’s most popular and have over time, proved to have better cash streams. However, over the past few years, a considerable option has emerged in table tennis. The Botswana Table Tennis Association (BTTA) through its partnership with Phoenix Assurance of Botswana has seen the growth of cash incentives for players.
The BTTA, this year introduced a new tournament, the Super League. The new competition carries a P5,000 winner’s prize cash to be won in over three months of play.
The Super League also increased the number of tournaments under the BTTA calendar to 13. This is a new addition to the local paddlers’ cash streams and competitions.
The BTTA’s elite tournament, the Grand Finale, which is played in September, carries the highest prize
money at P6,000. In addition to that, the tournament has a life-changing award with prize money of P25,000.
For a two-day work, a player can walk home with a healthy P31,000, making it the highest prize individual prize money in the sport.
The BTTA’s competitions have been divided into three categories. The premier category competition, which has a winner’s prize money set at a minimum of P5,000 and will be played three times this season.
While the category one tournaments will be also be played three times this year and the prize money is at least P3,000 for each tournament.
Lastly, the category two games will see winners taking home a minimum of P1,000 each. For all these tournaments, the overall prize money is just over P60,000 for a year, making it an
average of P5,000 per month. This is over the average P2,000 a local league footballer earns per month as per the world footballers’ union body, FIFPro survey done in 2017. The figures make ping-pong a sound sport career option locally. This is despite the sport being played at the amateur level and remains unpopular among locals.
In addition to the mouth-watering prize monies, BTTA through its partnership with the India High Commission to Botswana has sent 10 junior players for athletes’ scholarships in India.
The players will be studying whilst being given a chance to play the sport professionally in one of the leading table tennis nations in the world. BTTA had two years ago announced plans to make the sport semi-pro.