Jack, Chiswaniso bag regional title
Calistus Kolantsho | Monday January 29, 2024 15:14
They won the four-day championship by beating the pair of Ainadino Martinho and Jorge Monjane of Mozambique 2-0 (21-17, 21-19) in a highly contested final on Saturday.
Jack and Chiswaniso stepped into final game beaming with confidence after winning all their games including another brilliant performance against South Africa, beating them in straight sets 21-17, 21-6 to claim the match 2-0. During the first leg of the tour, the team accumulated 240 points, while in leg two, three and four gave them 168 points per leg for a total of 816 points. Botswana also won the women's title through Ngirl Wright and Cathy Boima. During the first leg of the tournament, the team accumulated 240 points, leg two they accumulated 216 points, while they missed out on leg three and in leg four they got 108 points.
The team is now ranked position one in the region with a total of 564 points. The weekend competition attracted 16 men teams and 13 women teams from seven countries out 10 Zone VI members. Speaking to SportMonitor, Jack said they had a good tournament especially after avoiding defeat throughout the competition. “It was a tough tournament. All the big teams showed up and they all wanted the title. We played against a strong team from Mozambique in the final, and they were leading 2-1 and we had to come from behind to win the battle in the deciding set. The win has a positive impact in our world rankings,” he said.
Jack said winning leg four of the tour means a lot to them looking at the fact that they did not have enough time to prepare . He said the victory is a motivation to qualify for the African Games. He added that the most important thing is to be prepared for anything coming their way. The duo is also pushing to qualify for Paris 2024 Olympics. The Botswana Volleyball Federation (BVF) president, Tsoseletso Magang, said the local representatives did well and what is more pleasing is the level of improvement by the youth teams. “It is encouraging and it motivates us to keep going. Jack and Chiswaniso won the leg, which is really great because it shows us that the investment we have put in their development has come to fruition. I congratulate them and their coach, Kabelo Marumo,” Magang said.
Jack/Chiswaniso: 2 Ainadiro/Monjane: 0