Phillips lights up softball
| Friday June 20, 2014 17:43
The P250, 000 donation means Botswana Softball Association (BSA) has became one of the few beneficiaries of Phillips’ initiative to install 100 ‘light centres’ across Africa by 2015. The multinational company offers a highly efficient solar powered LED lighting to sports.
Sharps Electrical, the sole distributors of Philips products in the country, presented the donation to BSA on Wednesday before announcing they would install the lights at the refurbished National Diamond.
The project will be complete by the end of August to enable southern softball league teams to play night games.
Clive Townsley of Sharps Electric said they hope the gesture will make softball clubs to get youngsters involved in the game. “This light that we will be installing gives light for five hours at night. We hope this will allow the softball association to get youngsters involved in the game,” Townsley said.
Part of the package includes lighting poles, two solar panels, a battery pack and the lights.
Townsley said that Sharps would do the installation as part of the donation.
“We will take six weeks to install the lights and once installed, Phillips themselves will come here in August to do the official handover,” he said.
BSA competitions manager, Renny Molete is delighted he will now fixture teams for night games.
“They will erect the lights and leave them as a finished project. At the end of August, we will have lights at the softball grounds and we will start playing night games,” he said.
Gaborone City Council clerk, Mpho Mathe told journalists that the council assisted softball to get the donation as they felt it would go a long way in furthering the sport’s development.
Phillips has been working on LED lighting technology for sport for a number of years.
In November 2009, the company provided the equipment to enable the world’s first soccer game to be played under solar powered LED floodlighting in Nairobi, Kenya.