Fencing, table tennis struggle to fund trips
The Botswana Amateur Fencing Society (BAFS) and the Botswana Table Tennis Association (BTTA) are facing an uphill battle to source funds to enable their athletes to travel abroad for competitions. The BAFS is seeking P350,000 to finance a trip to the 2022 Commonwealth Fencing Championships to be held in London from August 9 to 20. Speaking to Mmegi Sport yesterday, the BAFS president, Mandlaenkosi Masuku, said BAFS intends to send a 12-member team including men, women, and juniors to the championships.
He said the association’s coffers have been depleted and with just a few days before the championship, the BAFS remains hopeful.
“We cannot ask for money from the BNSC (Botswana National Sport Commission), our annual grant is only P50,000 and we have to work with that. Our hope now is the corporate sector. For the competition, our budget is around P350,000 to cover the whole team’s costs. At the moment, we have not yet received any form of sponsorship but we remain hopeful. We will only lose hope when the tournament
starts, until then we will remain hopeful,” Masuku said.
He also said there is a need for the national teams to get international exposure.
The fencing national teams took part in numerous international competitions this year, with the latest being the Senior African Championships in Morocco.
“Our fencers need international exposure, we would not know how much progress we make unless we take our fencers to these competitions. It was a deliberate move to include the juniors in this team, because they need to get a feel on the international stage as early as possible,” Masuku said.
“We would not know how good we are when we play amongst
ourselves locally. One thing I think we should be happy about is that in our previous competition, we managed to get a ranking. So we believe a ranking is a step towards a medal place so we need to compete in these competitions.”
Meanwhile, the BTTA has also sent an SOS call to potential sponsors to fund their trip to the African Table Tennis Championships to be held in Algiers, Algeria from September 3 to 9.
Two players, Tshepiso Rebatenne and Kola Modisaotsile have secured spots at the continental showpiece and the BTTA is now struggling to fund the trip. Per athlete, the BTTA needs just over P30,000 to cover travel, accommodation and emergency fees.