Volleyball prepares to host AG qualifiers
Tumelo Mouwane | Wednesday April 29, 2015 11:16
Six countries; Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia and Zimbabwe will take part in the qualifiers.
The top two proceed to represent the region at the Africa Games in Congo Brazzaville in September.
South Africa, Swaziland and Namibia will not take part in the qualifiers due to unspecified reasons. The teams arrive on Saturday. The qualifiers will run from May 5 to 9 at Boipuso Hall. A total of 30 matches will be played. Malawi were scheduled to host the qualifiers, but withdrew in the last minute and the responsibility was passed to Botswana. Speaking at a press conference in Gaborone yesterday, Molaodi said the Confederation of African Volleyball (CAVB) requested that the qualifiers be held before May 15.
“CAVB had initially informed participating countries that Malawi will host the AG qualifiers only to release Malawi from the responsibility a few weeks ago.
“Even though we were preparing to leave for Malawi for the tournament, we have accepted the responsibility (to host).
“It will cost us more to travel than to host and we considered home ground advantage as well,” Molaodi said.
He further said BVF engaged Botswana National Sports Council (BNSC) in the process of accepting the responsibility.
“We have also engaged BNSC concerning the recent developments and they have come to our assistance by financing the qualifiers.
“We are hopeful that the recent developments will not affect the quality of the competition,” he added. The Botswana women’s team is in camp in Sebele while their male counterparts are at the Serowe College of Education.