Lekorwe, Nkele strike historic bronze for Botswana
Kabelo Boranabi | Friday November 13, 2026 10:28
The home pair etched their names into the country's table tennis history books after reaching the semi-finals of the international tournament, which is being hosted in Botswana for the first time at the Botswana National Youth Centre (BNYC).
Their impressive run was halted by the combination of Namibia's Kamrouz Ghayouri and Nigeria's Chinenye Okafor, who claimed a hard-fought 3-1 victory to advance to the final. Despite the defeat, Lekorwe and Nkele walked away with Junior Diteemane's first medal of the tournament, providing a welcome boost to the national team's campaign.
The semi-final encounter was closely contested, with the Botswana pair losing the opening two sets 8-11 and 9-11 before fighting back to claim the third 11-9. However, their hopes of forcing a deciding fifth set were dashed as the Namibian-Nigerian combination edged the fourth set 11-9 to seal victory. Reflecting on the encounter, Nkele expressed satisfaction with their overall performance despite acknowledging costly mistakes. 'We played against Nigeria and Namibia and I think we played very well. We made a few mistakes here and there, but the communication between us during the game was good,' she said.
Her partner, Lekorwe, believes the experience exposed technical areas that require improvement, particularly their speed and attacking play. 'I think that we need to have more on our flick because most of the games that we are doing were fine and I think we are just a little bit slow,' Lekorwe said.
The bronze medal comes as a significant achievement for the hosts, who have assembled a 30-member squad to compete against international opposition across five age categories. However, it was not all celebrations for the home team, as Botswana's challenge in the Under-17 girls' singles also came to an end at the quarter-final stage. Nkele and Brianna Mogaladi, who had kept the country's hopes alive in the category, both failed to progress to the semi-finals.
Earlier, Botswana's Under-17 boys' singles representatives, Lefika Monnye, Lekorwe and Tinashe Dzvaka, were eliminated in the Round of 16 despite progressing from their respective groups. Nevertheless, the bronze medal provides encouragement for the hosts as attention shifts to the remaining competitions.
The tournament continues on Friday with action in the Under-11, Under-15 and Under-19 categories before concluding on Saturday with the remaining singles finals.