Young Mooketsi rules the ping-pong roost
Kabelo Boranabi | Friday October 4, 2019 10:32
From a sporting background, Mooketsi developed the love for the table and racket as a Form One student at Linchwe Junior Secondary School in 2012. This was, however, after niggling injuries cut his football career short. He needed just a week in training to impress the coaches as the fairy tale began at the Botswana Integrated Sports Association (BISA) Games in 2013.
“I started playing football at school, then I had a leg injury, and every weekend I would have an injury. So I had to find another sport that had minimum physical contact. I tried chess but I was not that good, so indoor sports became my last hope. I first tried badminton, but the players pool was very wide, so I settled for table tennis.”
“One afternoon I went to the school hall just to try out, this was a week before BISA Games. I managed to get into the team and qualified for the zonal finals in the mixed doubles but I failed to qualify for the nationals. However, this did not demoralise me; it came as motivation to keep on training because I managed to do well despite having minimal time in training. Since then I qualified for national finals ever year,” Mooketsi says.
The 21-year-old joined BDF Table Tennis Club upon finishing his BGCSE in 2016 and shot straight into the national junior team. However, the sailing was not as smooth.
“My first ranking was outside the top 50. I took part in a lot of competitions locally and in South Africa. That’s where I started to become a better player but lost a lot of games to the younger players. This showed me that I needed to work harder,” he says.
His big break came in 2017 after winning the New Horizon Under-21 section, which saw him sneak into the top 10 in the rankings, for the first time. He went on to finish in the semifinals of every elite category at the tournament.
‘Phablo’ as he is affectionately known, won the two of the BTTA nationals and was picked in the senior national team for the AUSC Region V games held in Gaborone in 2018.
He describes 2018 as his best year, despite lack of activity from the BTTA, he finished the season as the top ranked at just 20 years, being the youngest player to do so.
“I closed the gap in ranking from bottom to the top quickly. The year 2018 was my golden year as I was ranked number one for the whole year. At my age, being ranked number one is a good thing and I want to maintain my position in the top four so I can stand a good chance to be in the national team.”
The Electrical and Electronic Engineering student at New Era College says he fancies competition from the new crop of players who include Boago Malobela and Bakang Maloka amongst others.
“The new generation of players is doing well. They bring a more intelligent way of approaching the games but this would not be possible without the input of our coaches. So when you are still young you tend to lose focus, but it helps more when you are coached.” Mooketsi says he is a devout Christian and draws inspiration from his faith.
Fact file
Full Names: Ndelu Tshenolo Mooketsi
Date of Birth: July 10, 1998
Place of Birth: Mochudi
Club: BDF Table Tennis Club
Honours: 2013 BISA Games: Silver medals in singles and doubles, bronze medal in mixed doubles
2014 BISA Games: Silver medals in singles and doubles, Gold medal in mixed doubles
2015 BISA Games: Bronze medal in singles, Silver medal in doubles
2016 BISA Games: Silver medal in singles, Silver medals in boys and mixed doubles, Bronze medal in team event
2017 New Horizon Open: Under 21 Champion
2018 AUSC Region V Games: Bronze medal in team event
2018 Nhabe Open: Champion
2018 Smash Maniacs Open: Champion
2019 Grand Finale: Champion