Kabelano cup expected to produce sparks

Kabelo Boranabi | Monday July 13, 2015 12:50

Barclays Bank of Botswana Marketing manager, Stephanie Stoneham and Losika Seboni during the Kabelano Charity Cup draw held on Friday. PIC: KENNEDY RAMOKONE

The league champions, Mochudi Centre Chiefs will play tournament debutants Sankoyo Bush Bucks in the first semifinal. Magosi collected six points from Sankoyo in the last season, beating them both home and away.

Chiefs’ spokesperson, Clifford Mogomotsi says the team would use the tournament to unveil new players and determine its readiness for the upcoming season.

“We are expecting a tough match against unpredictable Sankoyo and we believe we will go through to the finals, as of all teams in this tournament, we are the only team to beat Sankoyo in the past season,” he said. In the second semifinal, the tournament defending champions Township Rollers will play Extension Gunners. Rollers can only hope for results of last year’s semifinal when the Gaborone giants thrashed Peleng boys 7-1.

Gunners’ Keorapetse Kgasa is happy with the draw saying they are itching for revenge against Rollers. “One may recall that Rollers embarrassed us in last year’s tournament, so we are going for a kill,” said Gunners spokesperson.

Rollers’ public relations officer, Bafana ‘Phempheretlhe’ Pheto says they intend to defend the cup and would use the tournament to give their new coach an opportunity to assess the players.

“Even though we will be playing in the semifinal, we believe fatigue would not be a factor as we have a very capable squad to compete in the tournament,” he said.

Rollers will be hoping to win the tournament for the fifth time while Gunners, who won the inaugural tournament in 1996, will be looking for the fourth Kabelano title.

Sankoyo dreams of taking the cup on their debut while Chiefs, who have won it three times, can only wish to increase their silverware. The one-day spectacular will be played on 25th July at the National Stadium.