BOTSWANA VOLLEYBALL RANKINGS ON DECLINE
Despite a disastrous past four years, Botswana senior national volleyball teams have managed to maintain some spots in the top 10 of the Africa rankings.
According to the rankings released last week by the Federation International de Volleyball (FIVB), Botswana Senior Women’s team currently sits on 7th spot in the continental rankings while they occupy spot 75th in the global rankings. Their male counterparts are ranked 10th in Africa and 78th in the world with 71 points. Though the rankings portray a good picture of the national teams, on the ground it is a different sad story.
As much as some can celebrate the rankings, they (rankings) do not portray the true reflection of what is happening on the ground as standards have declined over the years. The senior ladies team used to rank number five while their male counterparts where hovering around position seven and eight.
Although the ladies team was once on a steadfast growth and rubbing shoulders with continental powerhouses, the team has since been on a downward spiral and has
failed to post any impressive results in the past major tournaments. Last year in the 2020 Olympic qualifiers, the team lost all their matches and finished last in the tournament which was held in Cameroon. Prior to that,
the team also performed badly at at the Africa Games, managing only a single victory against minnows, Seychelles in Morocco.
The same predicament befell the team at the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations, failing to win a single match and finishing last in the competition.
For the men’s side, their last competition was the Africa Games Zonal Qualifiers in 2019 where they finished second, behind Mozambique but failed to qualify for Africa Games. In 2020, they were not signed up for the Olympic qualifiers since they were deemed not ready and not in a position to mount a serious challenge at the qualifiers. However, despite all the bad results, Botswana still finds itself in the top ten. This is largely because Botswana has competed in the Africa Cup, Olympic qualifiers and Africa games thus, their rankings have been favorable, despite countries such as Rwanda and Mozambique having better volleyball standards.
Volleyball legend and former national team player, Tjiyapo Madeluka believes that there is a need for restructuring. “This is the worst ranking we have ever experienced, men used to be ranked 7-8, while ladies were up in position 5 it’s safe to say we are on reverse mode. We need to restructure our volleyball system from grassroots level.
We have coaches and they should be allocated according to their capabilities. At national level, we are results orientated and not grooming; we should have competitions locally. Mind you top ranked countries play every week. I think it’s time for clubs to be turned into companies, as gone are the days of volunteering,” said Madeluka.